


The Mixing of Various Personalities

by BecMcc



Series: Mix and Match AU [4]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Elysian Dezel, Gen, Hyland soldier Sergei, Implied/Reference Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Death in Childbirth, Prime lord Edna, Role switch AU, Shepherd Rose, Teasings of various pairs, any romance will be a slow burn, aspects of berseria will be mentioned, canon divergence in some areas, critical role stuff doesn't appear until like chapter 30, implied/reference prostitution, implied/referenced drug creation and selling, implied/referenced pregnancy and childbirth, several mocking jabs at the zestiria anime
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2018-07-11 13:33:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 38
Words: 112,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7053868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BecMcc/pseuds/BecMcc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being in Elysia all her life Rose gets the chance to leave in the form of a man she and Dezel found in the ruins. However doing so may be more than she bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mabinogio Ruins

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This AU was inspired by several AUs I've found on Tumblr similar to it, like AUs where Sorey and Mikleo switch places, taken to the extreme. I wrote various ideas of this on Tumblr before finally deciding to make a cohesive fanfic out of it. Go to http://steeltypeloverbecca.tumblr.com/tagged/mix-and-match-au if you want to look at the AU.

Chapter 1: Mabinogio ruins

The sun filtered through the leaves in the aroundight forest as the critters that reside there went about their business undisturbed. That is until a prickleboar started running down the slope and ran through a bush. In hot pursuit was a red haired young woman in her early twenties wearing red, black, and white. She jumped over the bush the prickleboar ran through. She ran after it, fire burning in her blue eyes making the prickleboar panic even more every time it looked back. The prickleboar ran towards a tree. Smirking the young woman drew one of her knives and threw it at the prickleboar, unfortunately it flew over it and right into the trunk of the tree. The prickleboar quickly made a right turn while the young woman briefly stopped to grab her knife before going in the same direction. The prickleboar ran outside the boundary of the wood where it was a plane next to a river from there on out. The young woman was about to step out of the wood where she felt something wrap itself around her leg and pulled it out from under her causing her to fall flat on her face. She rolled to see a tan man slightly older than her with chin length white hair with green tips, most of it tied back, his bangs partially covering his cloudy pale eyes but they were still showing, wearing green and black with the exception of the brown hat on his head. He had his arms crossed and had a disapproving look on him, his jagged teeth showing.

“Oh come on Dezel, I almost had it!” She moaned.

“Rose you know the rule, we can’t leave the domain.” He said. “Plus I don’t want to deal with another dead animal.”

“But I almost had it and I’m sick of eating mushrooms!” Rose complained. “And how did you manage to find me so quickly?”

“Let’s see over twenty years of learning to read the wind, and I’ve been finding new ways to restrain you from going outside of our boundaries ever since you started to walk. Figure it out.” He said. “C’mon, Lafarga wants us to go investigate something.”

“Oh finally something to do, what is it?”

“He sensed something entering the domain and got itself in Mabinogio ruins.” Said Dezel.

“Aww, you sure it’s not a squirrel that got curious or something?” Rose moaned.

“If it was a squirrel he wouldn’t be concerned about it.” Said Dezel.

“Point taken, let’s go.” Said Rose. At the ruins Rose peered over a cliff and found some vines that lead to a section of the ruin that jutted out from the side of the cliff. “Hey Dezel!” She called, “I’m gonna go down the cliff and check part of the ridgey area. You know the part of the ruin that’s jutting out from the cliff.”

“No idea what you’re talking about but come back when you’re done.” Dezel called back. She climbed down the vines constantly looking up and down the cliff wall checking for any loose rocks and making sure she doesn’t lose her footing. When she got down to the bottom she let go of the vines and started walking around that area of the ruin until she went to a large mural depicting a person with a sword. She investigated the area in front of it to make sure that there weren’t any traces of that squirrel or whatever Lafarga sensed in the domain. She peeked around the corners of the room and around the staircase that lead to a closer look of the mural. Crammed between the staircase and the mural itself she spotted some beads hanging around there.

“Weird,” She said to herself. She picked them up and discovered that there was a dirty white, glove with a peculiar yellow symbol on the back attached to them. She stuffed it in one of the pouches attached to her belt thinking that she’ll ask either Dezel or Lafarga about it later. She left the mural and continued to look around that section of the ruin. Shortly after the mural she found a big hole in the ruin that lead further down. She ran back the way she came and went over to Dezel. He looked over to the general direction she’s in.

 “Hey, I found this dirty ass glove and a hole.” Said Rose. “I think whatever Lafarga sensed might be dead now.”

“Well let’s get it before it stinks up the place.” Said Dezel.

“Oh come now, I’m sure the spiders and plants that live there would appreciate the food.” Said Rose. Dezel rolled his eyes at the comment thinking about correcting her on her knowledge of spiders, but then again he was unsure if there was a species of spider that would feed off of corpses of … squirrels so decided not to, and headed towards the entrance of the building. He opened the door to the ruins and the two descended down the stone steps. The two entered a room with a large statue two openings that lead to extra chambers behind and presumably below the statue and a chasm between them and the other side of the room with a second floor. Rose briefly saw a figure across the chasm.

“Hey Dezel were you able to sense anything across the way?” She asked.

“Well the wind is giving me something on the chasm but other than that nothing.” Said Dezel, Rose shivered. “What?”

“Thought I saw something across the way but after what you said … god I hope it’s not a ghost.” She said.

“Still scared of those?” Dezel teased.

“Shut up! They’re terrifying, I mean they make creepy noises and they’re pissed off because of something in the world and I don’t wanna die via nasty retribution!” Said Rose. “Let’s just try to look for another way across before trying whatever the hell you’re sensing in that big ass hole.” The two looked around their side of the ruin but only found some sort of block trap that nearly squished them and that the two staircases near the statue both lead to a door that they couldn’t open. They then went back to the room they entered. “So, what do you sense over here?” Dezel was silent for a bit and walked fairly close to the chasm and kicked at the ground.

“See anything?” He asked.

“Uhhhhh … no.” She said.

“I’ll be back.” He said. He left the room and a moment later he came back with some dirt in his hand. He went back to where he was standing before and threw the dirt at the chasm with the majority of it landing on something invisible.

“Oh I see!” Said Rose. “Come on, let’s go.” The two walked across the invisible bridge that went across the chasm. On the other side there were two entry ways that were across from each other with every other doorway blocked by collapsed ceiling. “Let’s go left.” She said. Dezel nodded. Rose went ahead while Dezel followed close behind. They came across passage ways that were covered in spider webs or at least used to as it looks like they’ve been cut down. “Huh, so that thing might not be dead after all.” Said Rose. Then a low hissing sound reached Dezel’s ears. Just as she was about to move he reached forward and grabbed her shoulder. “Whoa what?”

“Something’s coming.” He said. She looked around the room to try to see what Dezel was talking about. Just then a couple of giant spiders jumped out at them.

“Whoa! Shit you’re huge!” She said to the spiders while taking out her knives.

“Ready?” Dezel asked.

“Hell yeah!” Rose replied. She ran forward and slashed at one of the spiders while Dezel swung one of his pendulums at the other spider and dragged it down. He then swung his other pendulum hitting it straight into one of the eyes. The spider got back up quickly and tried to jump on him but he dodged the spider. He then swung at the spider again which seemed to momentarily stun the spider. Rose on the other hand rushed around her spider giving it several slashes and at one point stabbing it in two of its eyes. “Dammit, why aren’t you dying?” She shouted.

“Rose …” Said Dezel.

“What?” She snapped back.

“I think these might be hellions.” Said Dezel.

“You’re kidding.” Said Rose, remembering what her guardian, Lafarga, said about hellions many years ago.

_“Yes, they’re creatures born of malevolence that were once human or something else. They can either be quelled by the power of purification or killed granted if you’re strong enough, for humans at least, seraphs would have to find alternate methods to kill hellions. However it’d be better if you purify them as through that they will revert back to normal cuz if you kill them they would never get that chance to go back as they were. However there are a few people that can purify hellions so right now if you see a hellion, just run from it.”_

“So I guess killing it is not an option.” Said Rose. “Well for you at least.”

“The best we can do is stun them and run.” Said Dezel just as he swung at the spider’s head stunning it Rose stabbed the other spider in two of its legs causing it to topple slightly.

“Let’s get out of here!” She cried. The two ran out of the room and through several more hallways and down some stairs. They approached a hallway that was surrounded by trees and shallow water that lead to a circular inlet. The two heard something that sounded like rattling metal and water sloshing. “Hello?” She called but they heard no response. “Whatever you are w-…” Dezel elbowed her, “I can hear you.” There was no response “Look if you just come out of hiding I promise I won’t attack you.” The two heard clanking footsteps come out from behind the tree.

“It might be injured.” Dezel whispered to Rose noticing more slowed steps with a bit of dragging to some of them. A man wearing armor over the shoulders and legs of his blue and white uniform with brown hair, part of it sticking up, approached them. As he got closer Rose noticed a scar on the right side of his forehead. The man was using his sword to hold himself up while maintaining a serious look on his face.

“You all right?” She asked. “Why don’t we sit down?”

“That would be appreciated.” Said the man. The two sat down on the ledge between the floor and the shallow pool.

“… This is more or less holy ground. What are you doing here?” Rose said.

“If we’re on holy ground I could ask the same for you.” The man replied.

“I live nearby. My village’s elder said he heard something and asked me to check it out.” She replied. “Now what are you doing and how did you get down here?”

“I can’t give out all the details.” Said the man. “But I managed to get down here because I got lost in the forest and I managed to run into these ruins. Unfortunately I fell and tried to break my fall though I think I broke my leg.” The two were quiet for a while as Rose listed all the pros and cons of helping out the man and letting him stay for some time in Elysia. To her the pros ended up outweighing the cons.

“Hey. why don’t you stay at my place for a bit?” Rose offered.

“What?” Dezel exclaimed.

“Really?” The man questioned.

“Sure.” Said Rose completely ignoring Dezel, “Though you have to give me your name first or I just might leave you down here.”

“Very well.” Sighed the man. “I am Sergei Strelka.”

“I’m Rose.” Rose introduced.

“Rose, forgive me for asking but do you have the feeling like you’re being watched?” Sergei asked.

“That’s just an entity that hangs around these parts.” Said Rose looking back to Dezel “I can assure you that it won’t harm you.” Dezel huffed and turned away. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.” Sergei started to stand up but Rose got under him in the almost comical sight of a giant man being supported by a fairly small woman. The two started to walk out when Sergei felt something go under his other arm.

“Ah … Thank you … entity.” He said.

“Lafarga’s not gonna like this.” Said Dezel.

“I’m sure he can make an exception, I mean the dude broke his leg from the fall.” whispered Rose.

“More than likely he’s gonna reprimand you for bringing a human into Elysia.” Said Dezel.

“Oh come on, he’s not that harsh, he’ll most likely just shake his head, mutter something then ask to not do it again.” whispered Rose. Sergei looked at Rose confused.

“Are you … talking to the entity?” Sergei asked.

“Like I said, it’s harmless.” Said Rose. They managed to make it out of the ruins without incident, except for when they had to get across the invisible bridge in which they had Sergei’s top half slumped on Dezel while Rose carried his legs. Sergei looked nervously around as he was on top of the seraph. When they got to the other side the two went back to supporting Sergei. When they got outside the three slowly made their way up the mountain as they passed by a group of some black big horned ram like creatures.

“What are those?” Sergei asked.

“Oh they’re just Hyland goats.” Said Rose.

“Goats?” Sergei questioned.

“Goats.” Rose confirmed. After a pause,

“Goats?” Sergei repeated.

“Goats.” Rose repeated. “Anyway, a little further is our village, Elysia.”

“You know I heard rumors that there was a village up in these mountains, I never thought it was true.” Said Sergei.

“Well you can put those rumors to rest.”

“What you’re not going to threaten to kill me if I talk about this village on top of a mountain?” Sergei joked.

“Be a good idea.” Dezel remarked.

“Nah, even if you did anyone that would try to find Elysia would get their ass lost in the woods, like you did.” Said Rose completely ignoring Dezel.

“Ha ha point taken.” Laughed Sergei. When they got through Elysia’s barrier Dezel let go of Sergei.

“I’m going to tell Lafarga about this.” He muttered.

“Hey! At least help me carry him to my place you ass!” Rose shouted causing other seraphim to look in her direction. “Hi everyone! A little help here?”

“Rose … what were you and Dezel doing this time?” A female seraph asked.

“Oh lord don’t tell me that this is another pet Dezel wants to keep!” Said a male seraph.

“Come on guys we found him injured, I just need to get him to my place.” Said Rose.

“Is this a performance?” Sergei asked, “Or are there other entities?”

“Should be the latter.” Said Rose. After a long pause, “Fine. Don’t help.” She said as she started dragging Sergei to her house. She helped him in and to her bed which he sat down on. The two were quiet for a while.

“Okay just stay here, I’m gonna go take care of something.” Said Rose

“Can’t really do much but will do.” Said Sergei as Rose left her house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On humans being able to kill hellions, in the game we see that happening in a few instances; Rose killing some hellionized soldiers, Rose killing Cardinal Forton, Lucas and his men killing some hell hounds, and Sergei killing some hellionized soldiers. So I think that it is entirely possible for humans to outright kill hellions provided they have the combat experience and strength.


	2. Arrangements and Healing

Chapter 2: Arrangements and healing

Rose walked up the grassy slope that made up Elysia and entered the house on top of it. The interior was neatly arranged with shelves and little trinkets and in the center was Dezel sitting on his knees and an older man with long pale green hair tied back wearing green and white robes looking over to her sternly. Rose walked up to the two.

“Hi …” Said Rose sitting down. There was no response. The three were silent for a while with Rose’s eyes looking around. The older male seraph fixed his eyes on her.

“Rose.” He began.

“Yeah?” She replied.

“Is what Dezel said true, that you two brought a human into Elysia?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Rose replied.

“You know the rules.”

“Yeah but he’s injured!” Said Rose.

“So I’ve heard.” He said.

“Plus he’s the only human I’ve … you know, actually came in contact with, plus I think he has some small degree of resonance.” Said Rose.

“The resonance part was not mentioned.” He said.

“Dezel!” Rose shouted.

“Slipped my mind.” Said Dezel.

“Lafarga, can you please let this slide just this once?” Rose begged. Lafarga sighed.

“I know you mean well but the longer we keep the human here the more risk there will be of producing malevolence or attracting someone looking for this human that might not be exactly pure or neutral and this worries me.” Said Lafarga. “Whether or not he has resonance doesn’t change that fact that he can still carry malevolence in his heart.”

“Lafarga-!” Rose started to argue when Lafarga put his hand up.

“Due to the circumstances it should be fine. After all, if we turn humans away when they’re in need of help, then we’re no better than hellions.” Said Lafarga. “One of us will heal the human’s leg and you may also help him prepare for his departure.”

“Thank you!” Rose cheered hugging him.

“If this happens again just tell me before you do anything, got that?” He said.

“Okay, come on Dezel, you’re helping me heal his leg!” Said Rose grabbing the back of Dezel’s shirt and dragging him.

“Ugh ow! Let go!” Dezel protested. When the two left the house Dezel released himself from her grip and got up on his feet and dusted off his backside. “Couldn’t you have asked one of the other seraphs to fix his leg?”

“I would if they were responding.” Said Rose. “I mean when we brought in Sergei they were kind of acting like we weren’t there. The only thing that would be normal was them joking that you got another pet.”

“I don’t do it that often.” Dezel huffed.

“Well not recently, which I should note is quite a feat for you.” Rose joked.

“Shut it.” Said Dezel. The two made their way back to Rose’s house. When they got back into Rose’s house Sergei was lying on the bed trying to count something on the ceiling.

“I’m back and I brought someone to help with your leg!” Said Rose.

“Is it that the entity from earlier, since apparently you two are the only ones here?” Asked Sergei.

“What, you didn’t get that being watched sensation when we entered the village?” Rose asked.

“Sort of … I think it faded out.” Sergei admitted.

“Weird …” Rose muttered.

“Not every seraph here is on the level of Kyme, or Lafarga for one, and his resonance is weak so things like us ‘fading’ out to him may be common.” Shrugged Dezel. “I don’t know.”

“Do I need to do anything like remove my boot?” Sergei asked Rose.

“You should be fine maybe hold still and don’t flip out.” Rose shrugged. Sergei nodded while Dezel just sat there. “Well go on.”

“Which leg?” He asked. Rose went up to Dezel, grabbed his wrist and guided his hand to the leg Sergei was trying to stay off of. “I could’ve figured it out if you had told me.”

“So what’s the world below like?” Rose asked.

“World below? Is that what you call basically everywhere else?” Sergei asked as Dezel started healing.

“Well what else would we call it? It’s below this mountain peak.” Said Rose.

“Ha ha, point taken.” Laughed Sergei.

“If you two get flirty I just might puke.” Muttered Dezel.

“Well I hail from Lady Lake, the capital of Hyland which this … I think it might be unaligned or part of the northern territories since I’ve never seen Elysia on any map.” Sergei started. “Anyway it’s a city. It’s in the middle of the lake. The people, most of the time earnest people, or at least they were.”

“Why do you say that?” Rose asked.

“Well for the last at least twenty years things haven’t been so great.” Said Sergei. “Now I wasn’t around in Lady Lake much as a child but from what I heard it was a beautiful place with quite the lively atmosphere. However, ever since I started working in Lady Lake it has always felt … dreary, like it’s constantly raining and for good reason. For as long as I have been a soldier there more and more people have been losing their jobs and wind up living on the streets. In correlation to that crime has increased, anything from theft and fraud to more serious ones like murder and rape to some back alley things. More children seem to be dying every year also. In addition there has been wide spread plague and famine, livestock are dropping like flies and there has been an increase in natural disasters. As time goes on we’re finding more corpses and burning them and placing possible people who are diseased or may be suspect of crime under strict quarantine rather than protecting or helping them.”

“Sounds like shit.” Said Dezel around the time Sergei was talking about the increase in natural disasters and plague.

“Our resources are being stretched too thin to be able to deal with this. It doesn’t help that there are rumors that our councilmen and some political heads in the neighboring kingdom, Rolance, are squandering resources for war.” Sergei continued. “In addition to that there have been rumored super natural happenings.” Dezel perked up while Rose quirked and eyebrow.

“What kind of supernatural happenings?” She asked.

“Like people going into sudden berserker rage like they’ve been possessed, people turning into monsters, people suddenly bursting into flame …” Sergei listed off. “Plus there have been rumored sightings of dragons and there are people that say that the dead walk the earth. I don’t know if this has been going on around the world or just Glenwood, I think around the same time all of this chaos started Glenwood got isolated from the rest of the world.”

“I would say it sounds rough but from what you described that would be a severe understatement.” Said Rose pulling out the glove she got earlier.

“You’re right it would be.” Said Sergei. “Every day it’s getting harder to think positively and I think everyone else is starting to think the same thing. At this rate we need a goddamn miracle that could help us get through these tough times. Maybe something like the Shepherd and his band of followers from thirty years ago.” Dezel looked up.

“The Shepherd you say?” Rose questioned. “I mean sure they might be able to handle the supernatural shit, but everything else? That can’t happen unless they manage to somehow get the people to cooperate.” By then Dezel stopped healing Sergei’s leg. “I think your leg might be okay now.” Sergei got up, shook it out and stood on it briefly. He then walked around a little. “Well?”

“Thank you.” Said Sergei. “I think I can go back to Lady Lake.”

“Wait now?” Said Rose.

“Yes, my brother is probably worried that I’ve been gone for so long.” Said Sergei.

“How long is Lady Lake from here?” Rose asked.

“Two to three days by foot.” Sergei answered.

“That close?” Said Rose. “How about you stay a little longer so I can at least help you prepare.”

“Oh no, I can’t possibly overstay my welcome.” Sergei declined.

“I insist.” Said Rose. “Better to travel back over prepared than to be underprepared and not realize it until it’s too late, am I right?”

“I guess …” Said Sergei looking around nervously.

“And don’t worry about bothering anyone else I’m sure they won’t mind.” Said Rose. “C’mon, at least let me help you prepare some extra rations.” Sergei bit his lip.

“Okay …” Said Sergei giving up.

“Great!” Said Rose.

The next day Rose and Sergei started walking out of the village when she bumped into Dezel.

“Rose?” Said Sergei.

“Go on ahead.” Said Rose, she then turned to Dezel. “You’re not coming?”

“I never do.” Said Dezel.

“True…” Said Rose.

“Hey Dezel, hurry up!” A seraph called.

“Lafarga have you busy today?” Rose asked.

“Yeah.” He replied.

“Oh.” Said Rose giving the glove to Dezel. “When you get the chance can you ask Lafarga about this glove?”

“If I remember.” Said Dezel.

“Come on we don’t have all day!” Called the same seraph.

“I’m coming I’m coming!” Dezel snapped back. The two then parted ways and Rose met up with Sergei at Elysia’s gate.

“Sorry about that.” Said Rose. “I needed to take care of a little something.”

“It’s all right.” Said Sergei. “Shall we?” The two walked into the wooded area between Elysia and Mabinogio ruins. Rose was slightly ahead of Sergei at all times. She sniffed the air for something, when Sergei was about to ask what she was doing she stuck her hand in front of him.

“Hide.” She whispered to him. The two quickly ducked behind a bush when a small pig walked out. “That’s a prickleboar.” She whispered to him. “They’re quick little bastards but they’re a damn useful animal once you manage to catch one. The meat’s easy to preserve, their hides can make sturdy bags, the and the bones can make for a good weapon if you’re in a pinch, or you could probably polish them up and sell them.”

“How much would they be worth?” Sergei questioned.

“I have no idea.” Rose whispered back. “Oh and watch out for the big ones those will likely give you a few broken ribs.”

“I’m wearing armor but I’ll keep that in mind.” Sergei whispered.

“Good, let’s go.” The two moved quietly from behind the bush, or for Sergei as quiet as can be feasibly possible for him with his armor having a tendency of going “clang clang clang” every time he moved. Unfortunately the prickleboar notice the noise and started running.

“Crap! Flank it! Flank it!” Rose shouted.

“On it!” Segei replied splitting from Rose. Rose ran after the little boar when it ran into Sergei with his sword drawn out. It stopped and looked behind it and tried to run in a different direction when Rose ran towards its left and Sergei was adamant in keeping the prickleboar in his sights. Without another movement Rose got on top of it, pinning it down. While it was still squirming Rose stuck her blade just below the its skull making it instantly go limp.

“Man that was a whole hell of a lot easier than it would normally be.” Said Rose. “Maybe you should come hunting with me more often.” Sergei laughed and shook his head.

“I’m afraid that’ll be a bit difficult since I have a job.” He said.

“True …” Said Rose. “Anyway, to last you a few days we might need to hunt down a few more and I can show you how to smoke the meat and some other things.”

“Sounds good to me.” Said Sergei. The two then went to hunt down two more prickleboars. Then the two went back to Rose’s house in which Rose showed him how to skin the pigs, gut them, cut up the meat, smoke it while having some of it set aside for making a jerky. She also showed him what to do with the various other parts of the pig and then started cleaning off some bones to see if her prickleboar bone jewelry idea would actually hold some water.

“You know I think you might be good to go tomorrow or the day after.” Said Rose as she was trying to polish a bone bead with the tools she has. “We just need the hides to dry out so we can make a bag out of it and you’ll be good.”

“That’s good to hear.” Said Sergei.

“Sergei, you mentioned having a brother yesterday, what’s he like?” Rose asked.

“Hm? What brought this up?” Sergei asked.

“I kinda wanna talk while working on this.” Said Rose.

“Wouldn’t that end up being counter-productive in the end because you’re kind of distracted?” Sergei asked.

“You’d be surprised what I can do while holding a conversation.” Said Rose. “Plus I don’t have any siblings as you can obviously tell.”

“All right all right.” Sergei chuckled. “Well my brother’s name is Boris, he’s actually my twin. We nearly look exactly the same, minus the scar.” One of Rose’s eyebrows rose. “He does have a tendency to goof off quite a bit even when we were kids. We both practiced the same sword style under the same instructor while we were training. He’s almost always well-meaning but is honestly more selfish than I am and can be quite an ass at times.”

“Aren’t we all?” Rose joked.

“Though I can’t fault him too hard, he is family after all.” Said Sergei. The two ended up talking until Sergei fell asleep and Rose completed four beads. Dezel then walked in and signaled to Rose to come out side.

“What’s up?” She asked. Dezel gave her the glove she handed him earlier that day.

“Lafarga told me that apparently this has the mark of the shepherd on it.” Said Dezel.

“The sucker must’ve dropped it the last time they were here or something.” Said Rose putting the glove away. “Anyway Sergei should be leaving within the next day or two.”

“You might wanna tell Lafarga this.” Said Dezel.

“I will I will. I’m going.” Said Rose walking up to the slope to Lafarga’s place. She knocked on the door.

“Come in.” She heard Lafarga say. Rose walked in just as Lafarga was rearranging some old books and papers one flew towards her. She picked it up and read some of the contents written on it.

_This is part of the account of the Shepherd’s Hellion Incapacitating Task Squad and what happened to them. Please for the love of everything good do not make it into an acronym. The Team consisted of the shepherd, his squires and four seraphim. Three of the squires are currently alive along with one seraph but three of the seraphim are currently missing and have not been seen since the beginning of the Age of Chaos so it is unknown whether they are alive or not. The rest of the group, including the Shepherd himself-_

“Ah Rose, Is there something you need?” She heard Lafarga say. Rose looked up from the paper.

“Well I just wanted you to know that the human will be gone either tomorrow or the day after.” She informed. “Also you dropped this.” She gave him the paper.

“Very well, we might not have been very gracious hosts but the least we can do is see our guest off.” Said Lafarga. The next day Rose and Sergei were finishing up working with the prickleboar hide so Sergei’s departure ended up being delayed until the next day. At Elysia’s front gate Rose and Sergei stood face to face with all of Elysia behind her. Sergei looked around with that being watched feeling he had when Rose found him.

“Well you should be ready to go and the map should be able to get out of the forest without getting too lost. Be safe out there.” Said Rose.

“I don’t know how to thank you Rose, but I really appreciate what you’ve done so I’m truly indebt to you.” Said Sergei.

“It’s no problem, really.” Said Rose.

“Sorry, this may feel like this came straight out of nowhere but I think the entities that have been around us are actually seraphim.” Said Sergei, Rose’s lip twitched as she resisted the urge to say ‘No shit Sherlock’ Sergei continued. “I know it may sound crazy but I’ve always believed the Seraphim existed and this town is prime evidence of it.”

“No, you’re not crazy.” Rose assured.

“In any case, I will keep this place a secret so no harm will come to it or the entities that live here.” Said Sergei.

“You don’t have to.” Rose brushed off. “But thanks anyway.” Sergei smiled and left without another word.

“It’s for the best.” Lafarga assured a few minutes after Sergei left. He then got a sudden shiver. “No …” He muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha ha the SHITS I am sooooooooo matuuuuuure.  
> Anyway it has kind of bugged me in the game where the cast say that the age of chaos is happening all over the world when they don't even leave Glenwood, sure the world guidance book say that the age of chaos is happening in the north as well but we don't meet anyone from the north or even get a glimpse of it on a map not is there a trail to get there in game. So I kind of assumed that Glenwood is sealed off from the rest of the world when the age of chaos happened due to no accessible trade routes and that wall in Zapphott Moor.


	3. A Reason to Leave

Chapter 3: A Reason to leave

“Lafarga?” Said Dezel.

“This is bad.” Lafarga muttered. Rose turned back. “Everyone, something has entered the domain!” He announced. “Find it, but be careful it may be a hellion!” The village scattered about the area around Elysia to look for the thing. “Rose, Dezel, you go look too.”

“Kay.” Said Dezel.

“Roger that.” Said Rose and the pair ran out of the village trying to look for whatever Lafarga sensed. “Hey Dezel do you feel anything?”

“No … nothing, just the villagers close to-” Said Dezel then he got a random shiver. “Over near Mabinogio.”

“Let’s go then!” The two ran towards the wooded area where they met up with two other seraphs, they ran further in when they heard a scream.

“Wait, isn’t that …” Dezel began.

“Mason!” Rose shouted. The two ran towards where they heard the scream. When they got there they were greeted with the sight of a fox like man eating Mason’s corpse, and had already worked his way through a good portion of his neck and upper chest. Rose gasped, Dezel shivered from the sheer presence, and the fox man perked up.

“How odd.” He said. “I didn’t expect anything but the main course, now I get a few extra side dished to satisfy me.”

“This must be the hellion.” Rose muttered to Dezel.

“You think?” Dezel muttered back. He then turned his attention. “Hey, you’re not welcome here, leave or we’ll have to kill you through the most graphic way possible for retribution to what you’ve done to our friend.” The fox man laughed.

“You’re all talk and no bite.” He mocked. “Tell me, how will you follow up on that when can’t see anything in front of y-?” He was cut off by Dezel swinging one of his pendulums at his cheek causing him to bleed a little. He then gave the two a twisted smile. “Oh now this should be a real treat. After all the meat has an interesting flavor when it at least struggles you know.” Dezel then swung both pendulums at him and Rose ran forward and slashed at him.

“You’re talking to the wrong type of guy about this stuff.” Said Rose.

“She’s right, I don’t even eat meat much less like it!” Said Dezel swinging his pendulums and tying up his wrists. The fox man laughed setting the chords on fire causing Dezel to yank them off of him. When the fox man wasn’t looking Rose attempted to stab him in the back but he caught on and simply moved out of the way then pushed her aside causing her to fall flat on her face. “Rose!” Dezel shouted, “Geostigma!” A blast of air pushed him up for a brief moment but he seemed to brush it off.

“Oh that tickled.” Said the fox man.

“Shit.” Dezel muttered under his breath. Rose rolled over to the fox man when he was approaching Dezel and stabbed him in the leg. He looked down.

“You’re going to be trouble.” He said then kicking her off. He went back to Mason’s corpse and started eating even more of it.

“MASON!” Rose screamed as more and more of the Seraph’s flesh was removed from the bone.

“That’s enough!” They heard Lafarga say. “You’ve caused enough trouble here hellion. Leave now or you will have to face the village!” The fox man looked around as dozens of seraphs stood behind Lafarga.

“I really shouldn’t be wasting my time on appetizers, not when the main course is getting away.” He said before vanishing from sight.

“Main course?” Rose muttered to herself. She then gasped at the realization on what, or rather who, it may be. _‘Oh no, Sergei.’_

“Don’t beat yourselves up over this you two. You did well trying to fend off a rather strong hellion.” Said Lafarga.

“Lafarga, are Hellions normally able to speak?” Dezel asked.

“The ones that do are ones that used to be human.” Lafarga replied. “Rose, Dezel, why don’t you two head back. We’ll take care of the body.”

“Fine …” Said Rose not wanting to argue. She and Dezel headed back to the village while the rest stayed behind. Back at Rose’s house, Rose slammed her fist against one of the walls.

“Fuck!” She shouted.

“About what? Mason’s death or the fact that Fox guy is after Sergei?” Dezel questioned.

“Both!” Rose admitted. “If we had gotten there earlier Mason would still be alive and we would have one more villager that would have helped us push Foxy off the edge of a cliff. Plus Sergei would get to the city without any trouble.”

“Or we could have died.” Dezel pointed out. “As it is now we were unable to do anything and if we faced him again I doubt that we would be as lucky to survive.”

“Speak for yourself!” Said Rose, “All your spells and attacks seemed to amuse him more than hurt him.”

“Shut up!” Dezel hissed.

“Ugh I don’t want to deal with all of this right now. Can you just leave me alone?” Said Rose

“Fine.” Dezel said leaving the house. Rose collapsed on her bed her mind swarming with revenge for Mason and self-loathing for not being able to save him. She then contemplated on what to do about Sergei and how to get to him. She got up and stuffed some things in a bag and put on the shepherd’s glove. She scribbled down a note and left it on her bed and waited for the cover of darkness. Long after when she was sure everyone had fallen asleep she snuck out of her house. At the front gate she looked back at the village.

“Sorry everyone, see ya.” She said. She turned around passing by Dezel and she stopped. Rose jolted her head back towards Dezel. “De-!” She began to shout but Dezel quickly covered her mouth.

“SH!” He hissed. After a few moments he withdrew his hand in the midst of Rose licking it and wiped it on his clothing. “Oh real mature Rose.”

“Hey, it works.” Said Rose. “Anyway what are you doing here?”

“I’m coming with you.” Said Dezel.

“Really?” Said Rose.

“Yes, but we don’t have much time with the Sergei stuff.” Said Dezel.

“Thanks man.” Said Rose giving him a light punch.

“Don’t mention it.” Said Dezel, “I can’t let you run off on your own with how crass you are. If I let you go I can guarantee that you’ll get arrested on your first day.”

“Oh come on, have a little faith in me.” Said Rose.

“Also, we’re gonna need some money.” Said Dezel pulling out some sort of ornate comb. “We could sell this thing that I took from Lafarga’s place.”

“Oh and you worry about me going to jail.” Said Rose.

“Shut it, let’s go.” He said as he started walking.

“Okay, okay.” Said Rose following behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this is a short one this time but the next few ones will be much longer and some other party members may show up.


	4. The Festival of the Sacred Blade

Chapter 4: The Festival of the Sacred Blade

A couple days later of going through the forest and fighting a few hellions once they got outside the domain.

“Hopefully this is a coincidence.” Said Dezel.

“That’s what you’ve been saying every damn time we’ve run into a hellion.” Said Rose. “Look we’re out of Lafarga’s domain heading into a place filled with malevolence, there are bound to be hellions running around!” The two finally arrived at Lady Lake, like Sergei said it was a city that was in the middle of a lake with a bridge connecting that to the rest of the land.

“There we go, done!” Said Rose stringing her prickleboar bone necklace.

“What’s done?” Dezel asked.

“Oh just a little project I’ve been working on for the past few days that we can probably sell so we don’t have to use that comb you stole.” Said Rose.

“No comment.” Said Dezel. At the entrance of the bridge they encountered a group of people surrounding a collapsed wagon with some goods spilled out blocking the entrance to the city.

“Now what could be going on here?” Rose muttered to herself. The two approached a woman and a young man that were helping out with the wagon. The brunette young man with wearing feather earings, black pants, a black shirt and a red vest turned, his green eyes seemingly glancing towards something else before settling onto Rose.

“Oh hi! We’re the Light Sparks, a traveling caravan of merchants.” He greeted. The woman turned, she had brown hair tied back in a braid, light violet eyes, and a blue and green dress.

“I’m Muse, the head of this guild and this is Sorey.” She introduced. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Rose, nice to meet you too.” Said Rose.

“Oh wow, you have manners!” Said Dezel with his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Shut up.” Rose muttered to Dezel before focusing back on the two. “So, where are you two heading?”

“Well right now Lady Lake.” Said Sorey.

“We travel all over the continent and if we get access to ways to get off continent we’ll travel the world as well.” Said Muse.

“Cool.” Said Rose.

“We’re protected by a free trade treaty which means that we can go almost anywhere we like, provided we have means of getting there.” Muse explained.

“Although there are times where we get asked to smuggle stuff but trust is our number one priority.” Said Sorey.

“We don’t want to engage in illegal trade, our reputation at times is shaky enough as it is with some of our members constantly getting arrested.” Muse joked ruffling Sorey’s hair.

“B-boss! We absolutely do not have anyone that’s gotten arrested nor has gotten arrested for attempting to bail said members!” Sorey exclaimed, sounding a bit stiff.

“He’s lying.” Said Dezel.

“I…” Sorey started sounding panicked before seemingly catching himself. “We’re going to be staying in Ladylake for a few days.”

“If you need anything just give us a holler.” Said Muse.

 “Though they should worry about their cart first.” Said Dezel.

“Actually I was wondering about a few things.” Said Rose pulling out her prickleboar bone necklace and handing it to them. “I kinda found this somewhere and was wondering how much it would be worth.”

“What is it made out of?” Sorey asked taking the necklace.

“Prickleboar bones I think.” Said Rose.

“You should know since you made it.” Said Dezel.

“While bones were used for things like tools and such but as for jewelry a lot of the time we end up seeing teeth or the whole bone unless its ivory, not carved into beads like these.” Said Sorey. “What do you think boss?” He asked giving it to Muse

“Hm … judging by the craftsmanship anywhere between 700 and 900 gald.” Said Muse then giving it back to Rose.

“Okay, thanks. Oh and also do you know of someone named Sergei Strelka?” She asked.

“Oh yeah, he’s a captain in Hyland’s army … or is he a lieutenant?” Said Sorey, “Anyway he’s a well known soldier in the area as he’s famed for many deeds of heroism and charity but I hear that he’s not well liked among some of the higher ups as he seems to be too friendly with the citizenry.”

“Also I think he might be overseeing this year’s festival … or is it his brother?” Said Muse. “I can never tell the two apart.” She muttered.

“Festival?” Rose questioned tilting her head.

“Yeah the sacred blade festival.” Said Sorey.

“I’m new here, so I’ve never heard of it.” Said Rose.

“Oh it’s a festival that’s held once a year or rather it was until thirty something years ago when the shepherd started using it. It got started back up about five years ago so I’m guessing the blade is back. It’s a festival celebrating the Lady of the Lake and the sacred blade.” Said Sorey. “Legend has it that whoever is able to draw that blade becomes the shepherd, so in light of all the disasters going on I think many people are going to try to pull the blade out of the altar.”

“So due to Sergei’s involvement with the people someone would put a hit on him even if it risks canceling the festival this year.” Dezel theorized.

“What do you think would happen if the overseer of the festival dies like say he gets murdered?” Rose asked. The two give her a shocked look then gave each other a concerned look.

“I-I imagine that depending on the death the festival would either be cancelled or someone would have to replace him in case he dies.” Said Muse. “Why would you need to know?”

“I heard a rumor that someone is after Sergei.” Rose lied.

“Well it is a rumor …” Said Sorey nervously. “You can’t exactly know for sure until you can confirm it.”

“So I should basically get into the city and look around.” Said Rose.

“Yeah, it is your first time in the city right?” Asked Sorey. “You should talk to the guards about any entry paperwork you need to fill out.” Rose went to a soldier asking about paperwork while Dezel hung back with the Sparks and tried to listen in on them. However they didn’t have anything that would tip off the normal person as suspicious, or their shenanigans on how they got arrested that one time. Nonetheless he had the wind monitor the merchant’s guild as they felt off to him, especially Sorey. From what he listened to there was talk on fixing that damn wheel, and jobs on the festival, nothing out of the ordinary. Unless they were talking in code, but even then all Dezel could try to figure out from any mental cypher was complete gibberish that wouldn’t make up any words in any written language. And putting cyphers on other cyphers made things worse. The cart ended up being fixed by the time Rose finished her paper work.

“Ah, perfect timing.” Said the guard.

“Sorry, about that.” Said Muse. “Good luck in there.” She then said to Rose before walking off.

“Oh, just out of curiosity, have you seen Captain Sergei Strelka around?” Rose asked the guard.

“Yeah, he walked into the city about half a day ago.” Said the soldier.

“Oh thank god!” Rose sighed, the soldier looked at her. “Yeah he forgot something the last time I saw him and I just wanted to give it to him before he gets too swamped with work.”

“Very well, carry on then.” Said the soldier.

“Sounds like Sergei made it back safely.” Said Dezel on the bridge.

“True but we should try to look for him to make sure that fox guy hasn’t gotten to him yet.” Rose replied.

“And you just lied.” Said Dezel.

“I know. I had practice for like 20 years of convincing you that I didn’t tell Lafarga about your pets.” Said Rose. Dezel scowled at her. “C’mon once we get into the city let’s look around while I ask people about Sergei.”

“Yeah you do that.” Said Dezel. When they entered the city Dezel moaned and nearly toppled over. Rose looked around at the mass of people that were in the streets doing festival related stuff, shopping, and supervising children making sure they don’t fall into the lake, or the town’s waterwheel for that matter according to some passing words talking about a thing from a few years back. From what Rose passively hears it was gruesome. She tugged on Dezel’s jacket and they rushed into a back alley.

“You all right?” She asked.

“Yeah, it’s just I didn’t expect malevolence to affect me so much.” He said leaning against a wall.

“Why don’t you sit down for a while.” Rose suggested.

“I’m fine.” Said Dezel. “I’m probably more sensitive to malevolence than the average seraph due to my blindness.”

“Something about heightened senses right?” Said Rose.

“Something like that.” Hand waved Dezel. “However with this much malevolence I don’t think I could discern Fox Guy from any other hellion that might be in the city.”

“Okay, but if you’re not feeling well tell me and we’ll rest. If it’s really bad we’ll leave the city for a bit.” Said Rose. Dezel nodded. The two walked through the city with Rose asking around about Sergei claiming things like she’s an old friend of his or even going to extremes like his girlfriend, or soon to be girlfriend. She kept getting similar results that he was at the barracks the previous night then he and his brother headed to the sanctuary. “Sounds like we should head to the sanctuary.” She muttered to Dezel.

“Hello there miss you interested in buying some silk? They were imported from out the continent generations ago and have been in the family ever since. My old lady might swat me for it but they’re yours for 850 gald.” Said a street merchant.

“Well …” Rose started when she spotted a gobbling like hellion behind the merchant. “Hey Dezel, can you sense the hellion over there?” She murmured.

“No.” Said Dezel bluntly. “There’s so much malevolence here that I think the thing next to me is a hellion.”

“That’s a box next to you.” She murmured before turning her attention to the merchant. “Sorry I’m not interested.” The two then walked on.

“I’m surprised you didn’t try to attack the hellion.” Said Dezel.

“I can only kill hellions at this point, besides, you’re here to try to keep me out of jail right?” Said Rose.

“Point taken.” Said Dezel when the two ran into a crowd cheering and placing bets on two tiger looking hellions beating the crap out of each other. “What’s going on here?”

“There’s gambling on a street fight going on, something we should stay away from.” Said Rose. Then the two passed by another goblin hellion pickpocketing from a bystander. “Well there are basically hellions everywhere we go.”

“With this much malevolence, no kidding.” Said Dezel when they approached the sanctuary. However there was a long line in front of it.

“Well here we are.” Said Rose. “Doesn’t look like we can get in from here.” Just then they heard a dog nearby barking at something. Dezel ran off to check it out. “Dezel!” Rose shouted then running after him. They found the dog barking at air but a moment later there was a plume of flames revealing the fox man. He hissed then started running. The dog ran after him still barking.

“After it!” Rose shouted running after the dog.

“I know!” Dezel shouted following suit. The dog ended up losing sight of the fox man but maintained his scent and continued to pursue it. Dezel and Rose continued to follow the dog until they were at a section of the city that had a decent view of the lake. The dog ran off in a different direction while Dezel and Rose stopped to make sure that they weren’t running around in circles looking for him. Rose then felt a chill down her spine which instinctively caused her to shove Dezel. Doing so had Dezel narrowly escape getting slashed by the Fox man.

“Goddammit!” He shouted.

“Your hunting days are over foxy!” Said Rose drawing her knives while Dezel released his pendulums.

“So you’re that eager to die are you? So be it!” Taunted the fox man. Rose ran up to him unleashing a flurry of slashes and stabs while Dezel stayed back and tried to swing at the man however he kept missing and accidentally hit Rose a few times.

“Hey watch it!” She would shout, followed by receiving a flame burst from the fox man a immediately after. Though sometimes he would scratch her as well.

“Suck it up!” He’d snap back. He then stood there not knowing what to do next. “Rose just focus … Concentrate!” Some of Rose’s wounds healed and she gained back some energy in addition.

“Thank you!” She said. So Rose focused on attacking the fox man while Dezel focused on healing Rose when she ended up receiving damage. Fox man then turned his attention towards Dezel and ran towards him. “No you don’t!” She shouted running after him and tackling him to the ground. He rolled over and blasted her off with a plume of flame that sent her flying to a wall. She quickly got up and ran towards him just as he was getting to Dezel. She then threw one of her knives at his back causing him to yell in pain and turn to her.

“Oh you’ve gotten more irritating since the last time we met.” He said.

“That’s the idea!” Said Rose quickly stabbing him in the gut then rushing to his back to remove her knife. She then rushed to Dezel’s side. “Goddamn he’s a lot stronger than I remember.”

“It must’ve been Lafarga’s domain that was keeping him at bay.” Said Dezel. “Plus you’re the only one doing any damage because right now my aim is shit and my spells are hardly effective.”

“It unfortunately makes you a sitting duck though.” Said Rose then running up to him again. The fox man then summoned flames in his hands.

“I’ll burn you both to ashes!” He shouted. He then unleashed the fire blast on Rose who was sent flying back, right into Dezel. Instead of catching her, he stumbled back, lost his footing and fell into the water.

“Dezel!” She shouted reaching her hand out failing to grab his. The fox man laughed manically.

“Oh I am enjoying this!” He said. “Such a fitting end to mere worms that try to challenge a god!” He summoned his blue flames again but he stopped when a knife landed between them. “B-boss!” He stuttered when a group of masked individuals wearing black clothes similar to the fox man and leather straps tied around their arms and legs appeared. One individual pulled her up and pointed a blade at her throat while two others surrounded the fox man and one stood alone.

“Quiet.” She heard a female voice say. The fox man tried to get up but the lone figure threw a knife at his leg. He shrieked in pain while the figures that surrounded him pulled him up. Rose breathed heavily.

“Have you forgotten our code Lunarre?” A different female voice asked. The fox man didn’t respond.

“Regardless, you’re all out of second chances understood?” A male voice asked. The fox man nodded. 

“Go.” Said the first female voice. The individuals that were holding the fox man up dragged him away.

“That assassination order was a mistake.” Said a male voice coming from the one holding the blade at Rose’s throat.

“A-assassination?” Rose managed to get out.

“We’re not after you, your friends or Captain Sergei.” Said a disembodied voice.

“So what they say about Sergei not being particularly liked among the statesmen is true then.” Said Rose. Silence, all the confirmation she needed. “So why did you stop?”

“We have our honor.” Said the lone standing female figure before disappearing into the shadows.

“So, I guess I should be thanking you for saving us then?” Rose asked.

“No.” Said the one behind her. Just then she heard a deafening screech she and the one behind her shot their heads to the direction of the lake where a blueish green serpentine creature crawled out of the lake with lightning sparks coming out of its mouth as it breathed. The person behind her disappeared without another trace. Rose got up and stumbled backwards away from the creature. It sniffed the air as if it was looking for something.

“A hellion?” She muttered. “How the…? We didn’t see anything like it before when we were looking around.” She tried to look over the ledge where Dezel fell but the hellion stopped sniffing when she started moving. She then got a good look at the creature’s face. “Dezel?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well ... that escalated quickly.


	5. Grab the Blade

Chapter 5: Grab the blade

The hellion with clouded eyes seemed to respond to the name. Rose fell back.

“No …” She gasped. “No … no no no no no no no no no NO! How did … how could … No … this can’t … there’s no way …”

“What are you doing?” She heard the voice of the masked man. “Go to the altar of the sacred blade.”

“What?” Said Rose coming out of her shock.

“Sanctuary. Now. Hurry!” Said the voice.

“… All right.” She said getting up and leaving the area. As soon as she left for the sanctuary there was a crash of thunder and it started to rain. People quickly abandoned the streets when the weather turned sour but Rose kept running. When she approached the sanctuary she saw that there was no longer a line in front of it. However when she opened the doors there was a wall of people blocking the way. She tried to squeeze through but no one would budge. “Crap!” she muttered.

“Oh hell I get out of that stuffy church for five minutes and now I can’t be near my blade. Geez couldn’t some of you go home? Humans are a pain.” She heard a voice say next to her. She turned to see a girl with orange tipped blond hair and blue eyes wearing primarily whites and yellows with a black glove on her right hand and black oversized boots. She had an umbrella with a toy hanging off if it over her that shielded her from the rain. There was another flash of lightning.

“Wait.” Said Rose but the girl didn’t hear her due to a loud thunder clap. “Your blade, does that mean you’re this Lady of the Lake?” She asked, that the girl did hear as she turned with a smirk.

“Oh, you can see me.” She said deadpanned and virtually confirming herself to be a seraph. “Well since we’re both stuck in this stupid weather I guess I can tell you, yes, I am the Lady of the Lake.”

“So is it true then? Does that blade really makes a person become the shepherd?” Rose asked.

“That blade, no, it’s just a prop, but it’s rigged so that if you want to become the shepherd you need to do a little something.” Said the girl.

“Well what do I need to do?” Rose asked.

“Are you seriously wanting this conversation in the middle of a storm?” The girl asked. “Talk to me when we get inside.” She then walked off. Rose ran around looking for a back entrance to the sanctuary. She tried to climb up onto one of the walls but they proved to be too slippery at this point. So she ran through the alleyways of Lady Lake until she saw two guards standing in front of the sanctuary’s back entrance and one of the members of the Sparks came walking out, a young man with red hair dressed in blue and wearing a white hat. She stepped forward when the guards stopped her.

“Only authorized persons are allowed beyond this point.” He said. “If you want to check out the sacred blade go out front.”

“But it’s-…” Rose started. “I-I’m here visiting my mother and we agreed to meet at the sanctuary. However the front of the sanctuary is kind of packed in so I couldn’t get through and I’m looking for another way in.” She lied.

“What does she look like?” The guard asked.

“Brown hair, violet eyes in a blue and green dress.” Described Rose.

“Wait, I think I know just the person you’re talking about!” Said the Sparks member giving her a wink. “Wait right here.” He ran back into the sanctuary and a few minutes later he came back with Muse.

“Oh Rose!” She cried. Running up to hug her. Rose hugged back. “I was worried that you might not show up!”

“Hold on a minute.” Said the guard. “Aren’t you part of the festival staff?”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have a full grown daughter.” Said Muse. “Besides there’s no part of the agreement that says that I have to give you my personal story.”

“Fair enough, you two can go through, but I need to take your daggers miss.” Said the guard Rose nodded and handed him her daggers. When the two got into the sanctuary Muse looked at her and crossed her arms.

“What is this about?” She asked sternly.

“Sorry to use you like that.” Said Rose. “It’s a bit of a long story that involved a friend being in serious danger and I got a tip saying that the sacred blade might help him.”

“Would this friend happen to be Sergei?” She asked.

“No, it’s someone else.” Rose replied.

“And what makes you think that the sacred blade could help your friend?” Muse asked.

“…It’s a long and crazy story but let’s just say that it involves supernatural means that I don’t think a priest would help with.” Said Rose.

“Is it a seraph and hellion issue?” Muse asked.

“How would you know?” Rose asked.

“I’m very familiar with the lore.” Muse replied. “If that’s the case then maybe you should go to the blade, maybe talk to the Lady of the Lake.”

“That’s where I’m going, and thanks again.” Said Rose before running into the chapel. Unfortunately for her the back of the sanctuary was also pretty crowded. “Crap, where could she be?” She muttered trying to look above the people.

“Rose?” He heard a familiar voice say. She turned to see Sergei with lo and behold they were not kidding when they say the two look alike, his brother, Boris.

“So who’s this cutie?” Boris teased.

“Boris, this is Rose, Rose, this is my brother Boris.” Sergei introduced.

“So you’re the seraph seeing girl that helped out my brother.” Said Boris with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. “To be quite honest I expected you to be more hag looking. But regardless you helped my brother get back home and for that I’m grateful.”

“You’re damn lucky that I’ve been called worse by bears and prickleboars.” Said Rose. “Though I’m not sure how much of that was actually the translator speaking …” Sergei gave her a look that said “what the fuck” before regaining his composure.

“What brings you here to Lady Lake?” Sergei asked. Rose told him about the guy that was hunting him down in Elysia and trying to look for him to warn him and about the masked people that took him away. “I see. Does the council really hate me that much to try to get the Scattered Bones to go after me?”

“Looks like it.” Said Boris.

“Scattered Bones?” Rose questioned.

“They’re the masked assassins’ guild you described that’s been around for fifteen years.” Said Sergei. “They normally go for people they deem amoral.”

“Well they did say your assassination order was a mistake.” Said Rose. “Ah sorry I don’t have time for small talk, I need to get going.” She rushed off before Sergei could grab her. She pushed her way through the crowd until she saw the girl from earlier sitting at the altar twirling her umbrella. “‘scuse me.” She said as she pushed her way through the crowd. She walked over towards the altar.

“Oh, there you are. I was starting to think you either died or you just flat out ditched me.” She said closing her umbrella.

“I really need to pull out this blade.” Said Rose. “What do I need to do?”

“Get in line lady and try to pull it out like the rest of us.” Said a person behind her.

“Shut up.” Rose snapped back.

“Excuse me?” Said the person. The girl snickered.

“You see that thing in front of the blade?” She asked. Rose turned to see a white metallic thing in front of the prop sword. She went to the thing shoving people out of her way pissing off a lot of people. She picked up the thing and rushed back to the girl before getting a good look at it. The item she picked up was a gauntlet with yellow trimming. “This thing?”

“Yes.” Said the girl.

“Now what?” Rose asked.

“Figure it out.” Said the girl.

“… thanks.” Said Rose. With the crowd yelling behind her. She puts on the gauntlet and looked to the blade. “Oh shoot! What’s your name?” She asked.

“Jared.” Said one of the voices behind her.

“Not you. Someone else.” Said Rose.

“… Crazy bitch.” She heard someone mutter behind her.

“Edna.” Said the girl.

“Edna, I’m Rose.” Rose introduced herself. “Would you need a vessel?” She then asked.

“Most likely.” Said Edna. “Though honestly I just got the job so I don’t really know how this works.”

“So you know just as much about this becoming the shepherd business as I do?” Said Rose.

“Yep.” Said Edna. “Though I really only heard about things in passing this is my first time being … any type of lord.”

“We’re gonna die aren’t we?” Rose asked.

“Probably.” Said Edna. The two were quiet for a moment.

“Well … no time like now to experiment right?” shrugged Rose.

“Honestly I can think of better times.” Said Edna.

“No, I’m saying that I want to be your first Shepherd!” Exclaimed Rose.

“… Okay, your funeral.” Said Edna taking Rose’s hand and closing her eyes. For a moment Rose felt a pulse of energy rise from her feet to the top of her head. The emblem on the back of her glove started to glow.

“That felt kind of weird.” She muttered. Edna then wacked her over the head with her umbrella. “Ow! hey!”

“Well don’t stand there, get the sword!” Edna ordered.

“Right right I got it!” Said Rose running up to the sword while pissing off more people by shoving them out of her way. When she grabbed the sword she started to pull on it but it wouldn’t budge, at first. About five minutes later the gauntlet and her glove both started glowing when she pulled out the blade. A mysterious gust of wind blew over everyone causing them to shut up. A moment of awe, irritation, and wonder was immediately ruined by a clap of thunder and a loud shriek that only Rose and Edna could hear. “Dezel!” She murmured. “Sorry! Need to borrow this gotta go bye!” She said bolting, or rather the shoving people out of the way equivalent, straight out of the chapel.

“Ugh! Rose!” Edna shouted running after her. When the sanctuary doors slammed behind them everyone was standing there dumbstruck.

“What just happened?” Asked Sergei. While back out in the rain Edna opened her umbrella while Rose ran ahead.

“Are you stupid Rose? We could’ve just waited for this storm to settle!” Edna complained.

“I can’t not while my friend is in danger!” Said Rose.

“Oh now you tell me your whole motive.” Said Edna.

“Yeah yeah save it for when this is over.” Said Rose as they ran to the area where Rose and Dezel fought the fox man. When the two got there the hellionized Dezel was facing off against an old man that was half of Rose’s height. Dezel shot a lightning breath at him but he deflected the lightning back at the hellion. The hellion shrieked and lowered his head.

“That your friend? Looks like he’s doing fine to me.” Said Edna.

“No, the hellion’s my friend.” Said Rose.

“The Behir?” Asked Edna.

“Unfortunately.” Shrugged Rose.

“Great, the first hellion that we have to purify is your friend that turned into a behir.” Said Edna. “We’re screwed.”

“Are you two going to keep squabbing or do you have a way to purify this hellion?” The old man shouted back.

“Yeah yeah, we’re on it.” Said Edna.

“Well aren’t you a rude one.” Muttered the old man as he blasted some lightning at Dezel.

“Rock lance!” Shouted Edna as a rock spire formed itself from the ground and jabbed Dezel. He growled and swung his tail at Edna but she jumped out of the way. “Hey shepherd! A little help here?”

“Sorry, I’m looking for some sharp sticks!” Said Rose.

“Use the sword!” Said Edna.

“I don’t know how to use a sword!” Rose exclaimed.

“Oh god, are you serious?” Edna muttered under her breath.

“A young man dropped some knives and left them there, they may be of use.” Said the old man. Rose crawled around when she found a pair of knives just lying there in the middle of the street.

“Found them. Thank you.” Rose called picking them up. She then ran over towards Edna.

“About time.” Said Edna.

“Sorry.” Rose shrugged. She then turned to Dezel. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you back to normal Dezel.”

“Hope you can back those words up.” Said Edna.

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Said Rose. She then charged ahead screaming. She jumped in the air. Dezel moved out of the way, mostly, she jammed a knife into his neck preventing her from falling into the water. “Close Dezel, if you were human size you would have completely avoided me.” Rose taunted. Dezel hissed and twisted his neck so that Rose would get off of him. She jumped and landed next to Edna. She then threw one of her daggers at him, he swatted it away and she then ran after it and caught it. Edna went up to the hellion and quickly jabbed him then backed off just as fast. The Dezel serpent reared his head then tried to bite Edna but she quickly opened her umbrella in his mouth and a burst of energy came out of it.

“Rose! Take care of it!” She ordered.

“I’m on it, Dream Slasher!” She shouted throwing her daggers that seemingly split into five daggers each of them ramming into her friend’s side. He roared and prepared to shoot a lightning breath laser. Rose’s face changed from having a hint of determination to abject horror as the lightning started forming in front of her face. She ran back as far as she could when the laser shot forward the old man summoned a bolt of lightning that redirected it into a different direction. Edna then summoned a pillar of stone that rammed into Dezel’s lower jaw causing his head to snap back. Rose ran forward, retrieved her knives and gave her hellionized friend a flurry of slashes and stabs. She then backed up and looked at the brown patch on his head. “Edna! Can you summon a giant rock above his head?”

“What are you thinking?” She asked.

“I’m going to distracted it and you form the rock.” Said Rose.

“…All right …” Said Edna. Rose ran to Dezel’s side.

“Hey Dezel!” She shouted getting the hellion’s attention. “That prickleboar you tried to keep from two years ago was delicious!” Dezel backed from Rose for a little bit then tried to snap at her with this jaws. Rose jumped back and did so for the next few attempted bites. She then stuck a blade into Dezel’s snout. She looked up at the giant rock floating in air.

“Edna drop it!” Rose shouted. Edna nodded dropping the big rock onto Dezel’s head, knocking him out cold. At the same time the rain stopped. “Now what?”

“Now we try to purify it.” Said Edna.

“Any ideas on how to do that?” Rose asked.

“No.” Said Edna. The two were silent.

“Well what about-“ Rose started turning to the old man who managed to disappear on them. Then silence, again. “Hey, I think I just might have an idea.”

“All right, shoot.” Said Edna.

“Hold my hands.” Said Rose extending both of her hands. Edna looked at her hands then to her then grabbed them. “Now … let’s try focusing our energy into getting malevolence out of Dezel.”

“… That’s not gonna work.” Said Edna and right when she said that they felt a jolt of energy that felt like it went through them before it faded into the earth. There was a glow from Dezel’s hellion form and in a moment it dispersed itself leaving an unconscious Dezel, soaking wet. Rose gasped and ran over to hug her friend.

“Oh thank god you’re back to normal.” She sighed. By then Sergei and Boris came running in.

“Rose, what were you doing?” Sergei exclaimed.

“Sorry. I kind of had to save my friend.” Said Rose.

“Now, I think it’s time for me to move in.” Said Edna.

“Yeah, I am your vessel.” Said Rose.

“Vessel? Rose…” Sergei began as Edna turned into a light and phased into Rose’s body. Rose suddenly felt nauseous and drowsy.

“What the…?” She muttered.

 _“Oh I think this is a symptom that happens when you form a pact with a seraph.”_ Said Edna. “ _I think your body is reacting to a foreign power that’s taken up residence and wants to kick it out, so you might be bed ridden for a while.”_

“Now you tell me.” She said begrudgingly.

“Rose! Are you okay?” Sergei exclaimed.

“No …” Said Rose on the verge of passing out. “I need a … nap …” Her vision went dark as she collapsed on her friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a lot of the drama that would be in a chapter like this got quickly ruined in several occasions. But hey Edna's here! And as for what's going on with Eizen and who will be taking her place at Rayfalke, that'll come within the next few chapters. Also Dezel's hellion form is derived from a D&D monster.


	6. Favors and explanations

Chapter 6: Favors and Explanations

Rose groaned as she slowly woke up in a building she wasn’t familiar with to the sound of Dezel being an oddly enthusiastic chatterbox.

“I see … I see … So that’s an otter, I wouldn’t know since I haven’t been to anywhere with ocean … Yeah I lived in the mountains … yeah there’s a little village there … there is a small forested area like right next to the village and then a ruin … I guess.” She heard. Rose turned her head to see Dezel with a small dog white dog in his hands, the dog from earlier, and a big golden dog on the floor. She saw that Dezel was genuinely smiling, with that her mouth dropped.

“Oh hey the idiot’s awake.” She heard Edna say.

“Mornin’” She moaned sitting up. She then turned back to Dezel. “Dezel what the hell are you doing with the dogs? Don’t tell me that you brought them in, and where are we anyway?”

“The inn.” Edna said bluntly. “Sergei carried you here like a pretty princess while he left Dezel to catch hypothermia and he’s actually dead.”

“No he or someone else got me here.” Said Dezel.

“Oh that’s right a woman threw him in through a window.” Said Edna.

“Oh please, unless she’s completely ripped she likely just dumped me through the window and onto the floor.” Said Dezel.

“To be honest I’d do that if I were sneaking an unconscious you through the alleys.” Said Rose.

“See?” Said Dezel gesturing to Rose. “Likely.”

“She actually jumped into the window and placed him on the bed.” Said Edna. “I didn’t see what she looked like since she was wearing a mask.”

“Scattered bones …” Rose muttered to herself. Dezel turned to her. “I’ll tell you later. In any case how long was I out and Dezel, where did you get those dogs and are they even allowed in here?”

“…No …” Said Dezel sounding like a child that had been caught stealing some food. “I found them all alone on the streets and I snuck them in through the window.”

“Uuuuuuuuuuugh! Dezel!” Rose groaned throwing herself back on the bed.

“Is he always like that?” Edna asked.

“Yes!” Rose said. “As long as I can remember he’s been sneaking in animals that he’s bonded with and he tries to raise them. He gets caught though and Lafarga would have him put them back.”

“Or she eats it.” Dezel growls. “Speaking of which did you seriously eat Snugglepants Overlord?”

“It’s been three days and you’re still fuming over that?” Edna asked.

“I was out for three days?” Rose exclaimed.

“Well yeah! She killed my partner in crime!” Said Dezel very agitated. Edna snorted at Dezel’s statement.

“Which one was Snugglepants again?” Rose asked.

“The one with super soft fur.” Said Dezel.

“Thanks …” Said Rose. “They all have soft fur!”

“I’m blind remember? I can’t give you distinct markings or anything like that!” Dezel snapped. They then heard a knock on the door. The dogs started barking.

“Mam? You all right in there? We heard shouting.” They heard one of the innkeepers say. Rose got up and scrambled to the door. She opened the door to a very concerned looking woman with a pair of envelopes in her hands.

“Uh … yeah, everything’s fine.” Said Rose. “Is something wrong?”

“Well this letter came in from Sergei, he asked me to give it to you as soon as you woke up. Also your mother gave me this note to give to you.” She said giving Rose the letters.

“Mother? You don’t have a mother.” Said Dezel.

“Abandoned in a ditch as a baby?” Said Edna.

“Yep.” Said Dezel.

“Well maybe the bitch saw her and wanted to profit off the Shepherd thing.” Said Edna.

“Also your mother paid for any meals you’ll eat while you’re here.” Said the inn keeper. “Such a nice woman, you’re a lucky girl to have her as a mother. And please get the dogs out of here.” She then left. Rose closed the door and slumped back on the bed. She opened the letter from her ‘mother’ and looked it over.

“That the letter from Sergei or is that the letter from your mother?” Dezel asked.

“The letter from my _supposed_ mother.” Said Rose.

“Well, no need to keep it hidden from us. What’s the scam?” Said Edna.

“Let’s see.” Rose began. _“Dear Rose, Now that you are the Shepherd I think I should talk to you about your responsibilities as well as the after math of what happened after the festival. Plus I ended up paying a large fine to the council for supposedly causing a huge disturbance at the festival, even though nothing happened afterwards and everyone was just confused. So I have a few simple jobs that serve as compensation or rather busy work to fool the council into thinking that you’re not some crazy hooligan that stole some property that should be arrested. I’m not saying that you are but you do lack tact. Meet me in front of the sanctuary. Muse.”_

“Wait, Muse? That woman we met at the bridge is your mother?” Said Dezel.

“No she’s not, I just said that to convince the guards to get me to the back of the sanctuary.” Said Rose. “We don’t even look remotely similar. And I know what you’ll say, not like you would know since you’ve always been like this, but trust me we don’t.” She then opened the letter from Sergei. She then cleared her throat.

“The Sergei letter?” Dezel asked.

“Yep.” Said Rose. _“Dear Rose, What happened, no seriously, what the hell happened. We were talking and then you were reported to be talking to thin air and you pulled out the blade and then you ran off without an explanation. Well if you were wondering how the rest of the festival went the people were still confused and we replaced the sacred blade with a wooden sword so the kids could play with it. Tell me what happened at the barracks. Sergei.”_

“So, you either get to talk to you ‘mom’ to help us with this stuff or that Sergei guy.” Said Edna. Rose’s stomach then growled.

“Can we used that covered cost and get a meal? I haven’t eaten in three days!” Said Rose. “I’m gonna go get something, you guys can come along if you want even if you don’t need food an all.”

“How do you know that?” Said Dezel.

“Your diet, if there’s meat or eggs for several days in a row you won’t eat and you don’t suffer any consequences. It’s pretty easy to put two and two together.” Said Rose. She then left the room. Awhile later Rose got Dezel while Edna went back into her body and they headed towards the barracks. She was stopped by a soldier.

“Hey you! State your business.” He said.

“I’m here to talk to Captain Sergei, is he here?” She said. The soldier looked over his shoulder.

“Oi! Get Sergei, that crazy bitch from the festival wants to talk to him!” He shouted. “Just wait here for a bit, he should be here shortly.”

 _“Wow. First day on the job and you’re already getting shit, I hear it usually takes a few months before that happens. New record.”_ Said Edna.

“I doubt that’s something to be proud of.” Said Dezel.

“Shut up you two.” Rose muttered. At that moment Sergei came walking out.

“Rose! Come in come in.” He greeted. Rose nodded and entered the barracks Sergei led her to a storage room stocked with spare supplies and closed off from everyone else.

“You know if you wanted something private we could have done it at your home or something.” Said Rose.

“This is my home, unless you want to take this to Marlind.” Said Sergei. “Oh and here are your knives.” He said giving her the daggers. Rose took them and put them back on her belt.

“Continue.” Said Rose.

“What happened?” He said in more of a commanding tone. “From what you told me at the festival I feel like you weren’t giving me the whole story. Plus judging from what I’m sensing there are seraphs with you and somehow they are involved with this as well.” At this point Edna came out of Rose’s body.

“Yeah, they are.” Rose admitted. “But first …” She went back and pulled Dezel towards her then pulled out his hand as well as Sergei’s having their hands touch. “This is Dezel, he was the one that helped us get you through the ruins and healed your leg.”

“Thank you again Dezel, I’m grateful for what you’ve done.” Said Sergei.

“It’s nothing, it was just a faster way of getting you out of Elysia.” Said Dezel, turning away and blushing a bit.

“He said it’s nothing.” Said Rose. She then went over to Edna and took her hand. “This here is Edna, she’s also known as the Lady of the Lake that apparently recently-“

“I only got the title from the last lady twenty years ago.” Said Edna.

“Got the job twenty years ago from another seraph that apparently held the title.” Said Rose. “She is a bit-“ Edna closed her umbrella and jabbed Rose in the side. “Ow! You should show her some respect and bow to her.”

“Oh of course! How rude of me!” Said Sergei getting on one knee and bowing his head.

“Nice.” Said Edna. Sergei then got back up and looked at Rose.

“Now Rose, what happened.” Said Sergei.

“Well remember the guy that was after you that I told you and your brother about?” Said Rose. “Dezel and I kind of fought him and he kind of pushed Dezel into the lake and he turned into a Be…hir?”

“Yeah, Behir.”

“This serpenty lightning spewing hellion which may or may not be responsible for yesterday’s weather.” Said Rose.

“How did he turn?” Sergei asked.

“I don’t know.” Said Rose.

“In the lake I felt a lot of malevolence, I couldn’t breathe, and I didn’t know which way was up. So I got scared and kind of let malevolence get ahold of me.” Said Dezel.

“He got overwhelmed by the fact that he couldn’t breathe.” Said Rose.

“So seraphs can turn into hellions and all of your actions make sense, well except for one.” Said Sergei. “Why did you leave the sword on the ground?”

“That sword is not the actual sacred blade but a prop that was rigged so you needed a sacred gauntlet to pull it out, so it was useless. Feel free to use it.” Said Rose. “Where is it anyway?”

“It’s under my bed.” Said Sergei. “I think it would be best to return it and try to explain it to the clergy.”

“You can go do that, I have another errand I need to run with the Light Sparks.” Said Rose.

“Managed to piss them off at the festival?” Asked Sergei.

“Kind of, now at least one of your soldiers and an innkeeper think their boss is my mom.” Said Rose. Sergei looks at her for a moment, then bursts out laughing.

“You? Her daughter? Yeah right! That boy who hangs around her being her son is more believable that you being her daughter!” He managed to get out.

“I know right, anyway, I’ll be going, see you later.” Said Rose with Edna going back into her body leaving a hysterically laughing Sergei, he waved ‘goodbye’ as she left. She and Dezel walked over to the market place in front of the sanctuary where she walked into a spark member carrying a crate.

“Ah careful!” He said.

“Where’s Muse?”

“She should be close to the front of the sanctuary.” He said pointing his chin in the general direction.

“Is she particularly mad about the festival?” She asked.

“Not really, she’s been actually pretty thrilled about it. She muttered something about shit and her brother and I’m not quite sure what’s going on in her head.” He said, “I need to get this to the inn.” He then left and she headed towards the sanctuary. She met Muse helping out Sorey.

“Ahem.” Rose coughed.

“Oh Rose why don’t you help us out with counting stock?” She said.

“Uh … okay.” Said Rose so she did whatever Muse asked her to with Sorey’s assistance and guidance. After that Muse asked Rose to help them to carry some stuff to the weapon’s shop.

“Hey! Shepherd! When are you gonna ask her about the stuff?” Asked Edna drifting out of her body for a bit. She saw that Sorey noticeably twitched when Edna started talking.

“Not now.” Said Rose. After a few more errands, she then approached Muse. “Muse, you know about shepherds and stuff can you please tell me what to do, because even the Lady of the Lake herself is clueless.” She dropped a crate of apple gels causing it to splinter apart and gels to spill everywhere.

“Boss!” Sorey shouted.

“What do you mean she doesn’t know?” She asked gritting her teeth not looking at Rose. Sorey rushed up to collect the spilled gels. He looked up at her with a concerned look.

“I mean according to her she like took the position like twentyish years ago and she needed to rig the blade that was there so you needed this sacred gauntlet to pull it out.” Said Rose.

“Oh no … oh no. This is bad.” She said slumping against a wall.

“Well excuse me for not having any prior job training!” Hissed Edna coming out of her body.

“Though you should hold some responsibility as well since you’re apparently in charge of the shepherd’s powers and stuff.” Said Dezel. Edna fell silent.

“Sorey, can you see if the twins need anything?” Muse asked.

“Um … r-right away mam.” Said Sorey rushing off.

“Do you know what a shepherd and a prime lord are supposed to do?” She asked with her arms crossed.

“Well the shepherd with the help of their prime lord are supposed to take care of any hellion related stuff by purifying them.” Said Rose.

“Very close.” She said. “In times of peace, like thirty years ago, the shepherd maintains that peace and ensures that to both humans and seraphim by doing good for both sides. In times of chaos like this, the shepherd has to search for the source of all the malevolence that comes with these times. The Lord of Calamity.”

“Lord of Calamity?” Rose said.

“Yes, it tends to be the cause of severe malevolence spikes during more chaotic times where weather is more irregular, tensions are high and disease is rampant. If those things are happening a good bet is a new one has appeared and the shepherd has to either quell or just flat out get rid of it.” Said Muse.

“So right now I need to find this Lord of Calamity?” Rose asked.

“Well, not right now, you’re far from being ready to do something that stupid.” Said Edna.

“So what should I do now?” Rose asked.

“For now, maybe restore some blessings, try to recruit some squires and sub-lords, and figure out your own shit, you know, the fun stuff.” Said Edna.

“Figure out a goal.” Said Muse. “I don’t advise that you wander aimlessly, it tends to cause disasters that other shepherds have to clean up. And I suggest your prime-lord at least study the basics on what to do, after all, a shepherd is only as good as their prime-lord.” Edna glared at the woman.

“Like you would know what constitutes as a good shepherd or prime-lord.” She muttered. “I at least know the basics of the world.”

“Also, your powers-“ Muse began.

“Sorry Muse, I don’t want your guidance on the matter, I think my prime lord and I will try to figure that out.” Rose refused.

“You sure?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m a grown woman, I can do things on my own. I don’t need someone to hold my hand when I need to go looking for answers.” Said Rose. “I appreciate the explanation but anymore I feel I got completely spoon fed and it takes out the fun of trying to discover myself and my duty. You know?”

“All right all right.” Sighed Muse. “One more thing, why were you in such a panic at the festival?”

“Well … this does sound crazy, but my friend turned into a hellion and I wanted a way to get him back to normal without killing him.” Said Rose.

“That’s all I need to know, thank you for your time, Shepherd Rose.” Said Muse.

“Thank you Muse.” Said Rose. She then walked away from Muse. “Well Dezel, it looks like we’re gonna travel around the continent at least.” She looked behind her to see that Dezel wasn’t there. “Dezel? Damn where did he go?”

“Funny, he was right behind us a few minutes ago.” Said Edna. “I think he ended up back at the inn.”

“Safe bet.” Said Rose as Edna went back into her body. At the inn she went back to her room and found a piece of paper.

_Rose, If you’re reading this, this means for one I somehow found someone with resonance that can write this down, but more importantly it means that I’m not in Lady Lake anymore. Ever since turning into a hellion I doubt that I’m strong enough to help you, especially that you’re somehow the Shepherd now and you’re the one that had to save me. I’m going out to get stronger so it won’t happen again. In the meantime keep doing what you do and don’t give up. Dezel._

“Son of a bitch! You gotta be kidding me.” She said crumpling up the paper.

“Don’t get too mad at him, he’ll be back, eventually.” Said Edna. “Besides I think getting extremely hung up on small things will breed malevolence or something.”

“It’s not that, it’s just, he’s my best friend, I mean sure we do fight a lot and I give him all sorts of shit but at the end of the day I’m still the one that would listen to his insecurities.” Said Rose. “He could’ve just pulled me aside and told me that he was going to do this, unfortunately that idiot doesn’t exactly like to communicate.”

“You gonna go after him?” Edna asked.

“No, he’s gonna come crawling back, just you watch.” Said Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well ... Dezel is out of the picture for a while. Don't worry he'll be back ... eventually.


	7. Of Advice and Squires

Chapter 7: Of Advice and Squires

Rose walked out of the inn and wandered around town. She then started to feel a bit strange, she flinched and placed a hand over her chest.

 _“Something wrong?”_ She heard Edna ask.

“I just started feeling this strange pressure in my chest all of a sudden.” Said Rose.

 _“About time.”_ Said Edna.

“Huh?”

 _“What you’re feeling is most likely malevolence. It’ll go away if we get rid of it, if it doesn’t then you’re probably gonna die.”_ Said Edna.

“And I suppose the purple splotches I’m starting to see floating around are probably the same thing?” Asked Rose.

 _“Oh that is definitely malevolence, I can’t really tell you about the chest discomfort since it’s a fifty percent chance that it’ll kill you but combined with the floating purple things you’re seeing it’s most likely malevolence.”_ Said Edna.

“Great, so any ideas on how to do get rid of it?” Rose asked.

“Rose!” She heard someone call. She snapped her head to see Sorey running towards her holding something, when he got to her he keeled over coughing.

“Whoa there, are you all right?” She asked.

“So-s…” He tried to say but he couldn’t form any words through his coughing.

“Hey can you heal him?” She whispered to Edna.

 _“I can, that doesn’t mean that I want to.”_ Said Edna.

“Please just do it.” Whispered Rose.

“Fine.” Sighed Edna coming out of her body and casting a healing spell on the coughing boy until it turned into heavy breaths.

“You all right there?” She asked patting his shoulder.

“Don’t worry … I’m all right.” He wheezed. “This is pretty common for me so it’s nothing to worry about.”

“You sure?  Shouldn’t you see someone about it, it could kill you.” Said Rose.

“Like I said don’t worry.” Said Sorey. “Anyway the boss wanted to give you this earlier but she kind of forgot.” He handed her a white cloak that had a hood in the back and a vine design embroidered into it. “She was working on this for the last few days. I think it’s based off of the traditional garb of the shepherds in Hyland.” Rose bit her lip. “Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine …” Said Rose. “A lot’s happened within a very short amount of time. God I haven’t even done anything yet and I’m gonna crash under the pressure of being the shepherd with everyone thinking I’m a screw up.” Sorey pat her shoulder.

“Hey don’t worry about needing to live up to any shepherd, you’re not the one from thirty years ago and you’re not the one from two hundred years ago.” He said. “And don’t worry about needing to uphold some morals and expectations, even the greatest shepherds and their companions have done some pretty amoral things by everyone’s standards, like for instance this one shepherd that married a hellion who really messed up his arm or the shepherd who slit an unconscious guy’s throat with a mace while one of her seraph companions murdered a sleeping old woman.” Rose looked at him in abject horror as he talked about shepherds murdering people so calmly and with a smile.

“Where did you learn these things?” She asked.

“Well the Celestial Record and the very few documents from before the age of disappearance that managed to get scavenged.” Said Sorey pulling out his copy of the Celestial Record with the pages over flowing with little notes and bookmarks. “My point is don’t worry about everyone and just do your own thing as the shepherd and you’ll do fine.”

“Thanks.” Said Rose, “Oh and here.” She gave Sorey the prickleboar bone necklace. “This is for the cloak and the advice.”

“You really don’t have to.” Said Sorey.

“Shut up and take it.” Said Rose. He took the necklace and put it on.

“How does it look?”

“Good. But it would look better if you wore some more whites.” Said Rose.

“Now can you put on the shepherd’s cape?” Sorey asked.

“Here and now?” Rose questioned.

“If you want.” Said Sorey.

“Do it.” Said Edna.

“Okay.” Sighed Rose removing the clasp on the front then throwing the cloak on her and putting the clasp back on. Sorey gives her a big smile and two thumbs up.

“Looks great!” Sorey complimented.

“Apparently you can put lipstick on a pig.” Rose glared at Edna, she heard a strange hybrid between a snort and a cough and shot her head towards Sorey who had his hand over his mouth trying to hide an urge to laugh or cough, one of the two, with his face red. “You all right, you look like you’re gonna die.” He regained his composure.

“Um … ye-yes … I’m fine, totally.” Said Sorey. “I should get back to my boss.” He left Rose and Edna.

“So … how do you try to return the blessing?” Rose asked as she and Edna start walking.

“Normally a blessing would be restored if you have a seraph willing to be lord of the land and bless the area and a completely pure vessel.” Said Edna.  “You also need people that will worship the lord of the land and by extension the vessel. That way a blessing can keep going.”

“So with the requirements would the prop blade make a good vessel?” Rose asked around that time she overheard some guys talking about one of the workers not coming back from maintenance in the aqueducts. She stopped to listen in a bit more.

“Well theoretically it-“ Edna began “What are you doing?”

“Can we talk about this later, I wanna check out the aqueducts.” Said Rose.

“If you want to look for something in particular then good luck, you need a different seraph to get you through that.” Said Edna.

“No I mean I heard about a disappearance of someone in the aqueducts, might be something worth investigating.” Said Rose.

“Is this your fancy way of saying that you have an impulse that you want to act upon?”

“Well it’s actually worked out pretty well so far, I mean there was a brief incident where Dezel turned into a hellion but otherwise everything else worked out pretty okay.” When they got inside the aqueduct Rose cringed from the increased pressure in her chest.

“There’s a lot of malevolence here.” Said Edna. “So much so that if I didn’t have a vessel I may have turned into a hellion.”

“I think I know what Dezel felt when we entered Lady Lake now.” Said Rose. Edna went back into Rose’s body as she descended further into the aqueduct. She then encountered a green blob chewing on a guy with his legs dangling out. “Uhhhh Edna …” She said, Edna appeared in front of her.

“What?”

“Would that guy be dead by now?” Rose asked.

“No he should still be okay. It’s probably gonna burn like hell with the slime slowly digesting him.”

“Would he be fine if we beat it up?”

“We have a pair of knives and an umbrella, the only way he wouldn’t be fine is if somehow one of our weapons turns into a big fuck off sword and cuts him in half.” Said Edna.

“Great, let’s go.” Said Rose drawing her knives and running towards the slime hellion. A few seconds later the slime was purified as the malevolent energy sank back into the earth the guy was spat out covered in slime vomit.

“Uuuun … what happened?” He moaned. “And why do I feel gross?”

“You were drowning and got some shit on you.” Said Rose.

“Oh god, thanks for helping me out uh …” He started. “Aren’t you the one who grabbed the sword and ran?”

“Yeah...” Rose sighed.

“Hey, thanks for saving me.” He said. “I need to get back to wash this shit off.”

“Yeah, go do that, you stink.” Said Rose. A little later Rose picked the conversation back up again, “So what were you saying about the prop blade?”

“Theoretically it can serve as a vessel I mean it’s been sitting under a decent man’s bed for three days so I guess you can put it back in the pedestal and find a seraph.” Said Edna.

“So … wanna go find a seraph?” Rose asked.

“Eh, why not.” Edna shrugged.

“Though we might need to look for Sergei …” Rose muttered. The two continued to walk through town.

“Hephsin Yulind.” Said Edna.

“What?” Said Rose turning her head.

“That’s my true name in the ancient language.” Said Edna putting down her umbrella and pulling out a book out of the pocket dimension that umbrella apparently contained. “You’re gonna need this since you need to know some of the ancient language for getting squires.”

“Ah yeah, I remember some things of that.” Said Rose taking the book and flipping through some pages. “Lafarga tried to teach it to me and Dezel but I always dozed off and Dezel can’t read and had tons of trouble with the language so he stopped.” She started. “Doesn’t your true name mean something like ‘Early Bloomer Edna?’” Edna then jabbed her with her umbrella. “Ow! Hey!” She shouted when she ran into some armor.

“Watch it!” She heard the person she bump into say.

“Sorry about uh …” She started, “You’re Boris correct?”

“So glad you remembered me.” He said cheerfully. Edna stiffened and shivered when he spoke. Rose looked between him and the other soldier he was with to see them carrying a body on a stretcher covered with a white sheet with one of the arms sticking out.

“What the hell happened to them?” She asked.

“Gel Powder overdose.” Said Boris.

“Gel Powder is the ground up remains of the plant that gel base is made of.” Explained Edna. “It’s typically traded for the common folk as the recently mass traded Elixir is normally far too expensive. It’s either smoked or snorted. It’s super addictive and from what I hear it kills any pain you feel. And with the times, it’s easy to see why people would keep coming back.”

“When did this start being a problem?” Rose asked.

“Well about a few years ago when the water level dropped due to a drought, followed by the flood.” Said Boris, “A lot of people took to Gel Powder as a way to cope.”

“Boris, we have to dispose of this.” Said the other soldier.

“I know I know. See ya around you crazy bitch.” Said Boris as he and the other soldier walked off with the body. Edna did not take her eyes off of Boris until he was out of her vision.

“Something wrong?” Rose asked.

“… No.” Said Edna. “Let’s try to find Sergei and the prop blade.”

“Kay.” Shrugged Rose as they headed to the barracks but didn’t find him there. So they went to the sanctuary, there they saw Sergei talking to one of the priests while holding the prop sword. “Yo! Sergei!” She shouted causing Sergei to nearly injure the priest and drop the prop.

“I am so sorry.” He apologized to the priest. He then went over to Rose. “What is it and where did you get that cloak?”

“Got it from the Light Sparks.” Said Rose showing off the shepherd’s cloak. “Anyway Edna and I were talking about that prop blade …”

“And not Dezel?” Said Sergei, noticing a severe lack of something.

“The asshole walked off to get stronger or some shit like that.” Said Rose.

“I’m guessing it’s because he’s still bummed that he turned into a hellion.” Said Sergei.

“That’s exactly the reason. Anyway, Edna and I were talking about how to make things suck slightly less in Lady Lake.” Said Rose.

“Okay, what is it?” Said Sergei.

“Well since this town is pretty malevolent … well malevolent to me, Edna, and any other seraph in the area if there are any, we were thinking of getting the blessing back to Lady Lake.” Said Rose.

“And how would it do that?”

“Um … it would make the atmosphere marginally better?” Shrugged Rose.

“Oh for the love of … Rose, take Sergei’s hand and close your eyes.” Said Edna.

“Why?”

“Just do it.” Edna snapped.

“All right all right jeez.” Said Rose closing her eyes and taking Sergei’s hand.

“Hey Sergei can you hear me?” Said Edna.

“What are you doing?” Sergei asked.

“Edna it’s not working, why don’t you just tell me what I need to say so I can-“ Rose started.

“Shush!” Edna cut off. “Get down so I can cover your ears.”

“Fine!” sighed Rose. “Miss bossy” she then muttered kneeling. Edna covered her ears.

“Sergei?”

“E-Edna?” Said Sergei.

“Oh so you can hear me now.” Said Edna. “That’s good, for Rose cuz if this didn’t work I was going to make her hold her breath.”

“… Wow.” Said Sergei.

“Anyway, you want to know how that prop blade can help with Lady Lake right?” Said Edna.

“Yes.” Said Sergei.

“In ancient times, even up until thirty something years ago, the seraphim and the people had a bit of a symbiotic relationship. The seraph using a pure vessel, or lord of the land, would protect the people from Malevolence while the people would worship the seraph to help spread their domain.” Explained Edna. “With less malevolence there will be less bad stuff going on. While it may not solve everything, at least that Gel Powder problem would go down along with some of the other crimes.”

“I see, the prop blade is this pure vessel while we need to look for a Seraph that’s willing to lend their power and people willing to worship them.” Said Sergei. “I think I might know someone that could help.”

“All right, who?” Asked Edna.

“Father Breunor, he recently ascended into priest hood and hasn’t been involved with any scandals.” Said Sergei. “I would ask him right now but he’s currently out on an errand.” Edna uncovered Rose’s ears.

“Got everything you need to know?” Rose asked.

“Yeah.” Said Sergei. “I’ll talk to the priests about the prop blade and we’ll talk to Father Breunor when he returns. Now all that’s left if to get a seraph.”

“Well there are plenty of Seraphs in Elysia, I’m sure maybe one of them would like to help out.” Said Rose.

“How about something closer?” Said Edna.

“But do you know anything closer?” Rose asked Sergei.

“Let’s see … I’ve heard rumors of a water spirit at Falkewin Hillside.” Said Sergei looking up. “I also heard of a spirit at Rayfalke, but that one may be a bit more sketchy since there was originally sightings of two spirits until five years ago, now people are saying a dragon and a spirit.”

“Let’s take a look at Falkewin, I get the feeling that the spirit at Rayfalke may be a hellion, especially since there’s mention of a dragon.” Said Edna.

“How about you talk to the priests about the prop blade and then let’s head to Falkewin to check out that water spirit since that sounds the most promising.” Said Rose.

“Sounds fine to me.” Said Sergei.

“Wait.” Said Edna.

“What now?”

“If you want to bring Sergei along you need to make him your squire, basically a sub shepherd of sorts that can borrow your power to purify hellions as long as he’s within your domain.” Said Edna.

“Hey Sergei you wanna be my squire?”  Rose asked.

“Like the ones that accompanied the Shepherd from thirty years ago?” Asked Sergei. “Sure.”

“Sweet! Edna how does this work?” She asked.

“Just give him a true name in the ancient language when I’m finished with the incantation.” Said Edna.

“Give me a minute.” Said Rose pulling out the book Edna gave her. Sergei went to the priests about the prop sword and placed it back in the altar during the time Rose read the book. Sergei stood in front of Rose with his arms crossed for an extra ten minutes. “Sorry about that.” She said putting the book away.

“Hands.” Said Edna. Rose gave Edna her hand while Edna just grabbed Sergei’s. Sergei looked at her confused.

“Don’t worry, it’s part of squire thingy… I think.” Said Rose.

“Let’s see … something something new bud on holy branch something…” Edna began as the space between them started glowing Rose looked at Edna completely dumbstruck. “flowers, fruit, and seeds, something something something wheel of destiny keeps on turning.” A light rose from the ground and shot up through Sergei’s body. “Something will of the Shepherd, something bond … what’s the true name?”

“Uuub baah du … ahem, Cebvhuya Kuewgo.” Said Rose. The light emanating from Sergei’s body dispersed.

“Nice to be your squire Rose.” Said Sergei. “I think I mean judging from your face I don’t think that was supposed to happen.”

“No … it’s not that, it’s that Edna’s incantation was so half assed it’s pretty unbelievable.” Said Rose. Edna grumbled something and jabbed Rose with her umbrella. “Ow! … So … to Falkewin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah critical role references ... Yeah the shepherds and seraphs Sorey was talking about are more or less references to critical role characters. And about damn time Rose got that shepherd's cloak am I right.  
> Sergei's true name is primarily pulled out of my ass because it's difficult to try to come up with a coherent cypher for true names because not every letter matches up and I'm not using that fan made cypher. Also Resbelva Kulco is supposed to mean "hunting buddy Sergei."  
> As for the gel powder, well Zestiria already has fake elixir which I swear is a widely traded meth analogue that's primarily for middle and upper class people.
> 
> Okay since posting this I have developed a more coherent cypher with is mixing and matching different cyphers while combining my own guess work so Sergei's true name is no longer Resbelva Kulco it is now Cebvhuya Kuewgo (pronounced Seb-voo-ya Cue-go) which still means Hunting buddy Sergei.


	8. Rayfalke Spirit

Chapter 8: Rayfalke Spirit

After the squire’s pact was made Sergei went to Boris to tell him about finding a seraph and asked him to cover for him for a few days. Boris happily agreed. However Edna still felt that something was off about Boris. The three, or rather two as Edna hung out in Rose’s body most of the time, gathered supplies and headed out of Lady Lake. About a day and a half later they went to a rainy Falkewin hillside with a raging river quickly breaking down the bridge that was the only thing connecting Lady Lake and Marlind.

“Oh god … this normally doesn’t happen when it rains.” Said Sergei.

“What does happen then?” Rose asked.

“Well minus the flood from a few years ago the yearly rains normally end up raising the water level a bit and the river does pick up but with this … this is similar to the flood we got but the current is far more violent than it was then.” Said Sergei. Edna walked close to the bank.

“He’s right, there’s nothing’s right about this.” She said. Just as she said that a large black snake sprung out of the water, but it looked like a water spout to Sergei. Edna jumped back then sprinted.

“What the Edna?!” Rose shouted.

“Run!” She shouted back.

“Sergei! We need to go!” Rose shouted running off, Sergei followed with his armor making a lot of noise. When they got far enough from the river, which was half way to Rayfalke the three rested to catch their breaths. “Edna, what was that, and why did we run?”

“What was that?” Sergei repeated.

“That was an Oroboros, a really damn strong hellion.” Said Edna. “You can’t use some of my powers yet so there’s no way you can take that on.”

“…Thanks.” Said Rose. She then turned to Sergei. “That was a strong hellion.”

“Okay, so Falkewin is out of the question, now we have to look for one at Rayfalke and hope we don’t run into a dragon.” Said Sergei.

“Haven’t been there in a while but I doubt there’s one unless the rumors are true that there were two seraphs living on that mountain and one of them did in fact turn into a dragon.” Said Edna.

“All right, to Rayfalke.” Said Rose. The trio, or rather, Sergei and Rose with Edna in Rose’s body hiked up to Rayfalke. When they got there they started up the trail to the summit. The three ran into some hellions but were able to purify them without any trouble, then they ran into a wall of ice. “Well shit how are we supposed to get past this?” Said Rose with her arms crossed. Edna came out of her body.

“You should try using my powers.” Said Edna.

“Your powers?” Rose said.

“What are you two going on about and why am I locked out of the loop again?” Said Sergei.

“Too much of a hassle.” Rose and Edna said simultaneously.

“Anyway Edna said that her powers should help me knock down this hunk of ice.” Said Rose.

“Well then, what are you waiting for, just do it.” Said Sergei.

“All right.” Sighed Rose. “Just punch it right?” Edna went back into her body.

 _“Yes, but don’t break your hand.”_ She said. Rose shook out her arm and clenched her fist. She lunged forward and punched the ice wall at full force causing it to shatter. Sergei’s mouth dropped.

“So that’s what a shepherd can do.” He muttered under his breath.

“You coming?” Rose asked. Sergei shrugged and followed her. They continued up the mountain running into more ice walls and with Rose breaking them as they went. But as they got higher Rose felt that same pressure in her chest that she felt in Lady Lake. The number of hellions also increased as they went up. “There’s something pretty malevolent here.” She said.

 _“Yeah.”_ Said Edna.

“I’m guessing we should try to find this seraph quickly.” Said Segei.

“Yeah.” Said Rose. They continued as it got noticeably colder. They passed it off as simply them climbing to higher elevations until they saw a humanoid figure on the path ahead in front of another ice wall. As they got closer to the figure they saw that it was neither human nor seraph, its flesh was withered with pieces peeling off the bone, its whole face but the lower jaw was nothing but bone and even the flesh there was starting to flake off. It had on a robe that covered the majority of its arms but only went down to its knees with nothing protecting the exposed wrinkled legs and feet from the elements. It stood there holding a staff, and judging the amount of malevolence the figure was emitting, it was a hellion.

“Turn … back…” The figure warned in a raspy whispery voice with puffs coming out of its mouth as if it was snowing before coughing. “Go … away …” It said. Edna came out of Rose’s body.

“Edna, this hellion used to be human right?” She asked only familiar with the fox man and what Lafarga had said about talking hellions.

“No. That’s a Lich, unless a human went really crazy with seraphic artes this was a seraph.” Said Edna. “And from the looks of it this is a pretty young lich.”

“Should we turn back?” Rose asked.

“Leave …” The lich coughed.

“No. This is our best option, hellionization for it likely happened within the last two months judging by its state. If it still has plenty of flesh on it and can still speak it means that the lich is pretty weak.” Said Edna.

“Good enough for me.” Said Rose drawing her knives, “Sergei! Let’s go!”

“All right.” Said Sergei drawing his sword all the while squinting at what he perceives to be a cloud of dust. The lich coughed again.

“Leave!” It hissed blasting ice at the party. Rose jumped back while Edna opened her umbrella effectively blocking the attack. Sergei ran at the hellion and tried to slash it but the lich ducked out of the way. While focusing on avoiding Sergei it didn’t notice Rose and Edna to the side and behind it, respectively. Rose threw a dagger at it causing the hellion to lurch back which put it the perfect position to be whacked by a spinning Edna holding out her open umbrella. That in turn knocked it to a place where it can be struck by Sergei’s sword as Rose slid past it and grabbed her dagger. Edna went for another strike. The Lich noticed this and put up an ice dome around itself. Rose sheathed her daggers and tried to use her shepherd’s powers to break the barrier but spikes grew out of it nearly stabbing Rose’s hand causing her to withdraw.

“God dammit.” She muttered to herself.

“Rose, so you remember the thing we did with Dezel?” Edna asked with an orange light glowing around her. Rose’s eyes lit up and then she smirked.

“Oh I get it.” Said Rose.

“Get what?” Said Sergei squinting trying to see Edna and the hellion with no success.

“Rock lance!” Edna shouted, Rose heard a dull ‘thunk’ from inside the dome. She ran forward and punched the ice barrier completely shattering it. The lich fell to the ground when the spire that pinned it to the top of its own barrier returned to the earth. Unfortunately the lich wasn’t knocked out like every other hellion before being purified, it instead got up.

“Stubborn thing.” Edna growled. “I thought that would work.”

“Boy it’s a lot tougher than it looks.” Said Rose. “Sure would be helpful if Dezel were to show up about now.” Unfortunately no such help came. So Rose and Sergei charged at the lich from opposite directions but the lich jumped out of the way causing their blades to collide.

“This should knock you down…” Said Enda. “Air pressure!” and a force pushed the lich to the ground, doing the exact opposite of Dezel’s geostigma spell. However when the spell faded it got back on its feet. “You little … you are becoming more frustrating the longer we fight you, you know that?”

“Cleaver!” Rose shouted swinging a dagger at it but it summoned a small ice wall blocking the attack but Sergei got to its side.

“Beast!” He shouted releasing a pulse of energy from his hand that gave off a sound similar to a lion’s roar. The attack slammed the lich into the ice wall then Rose went around the wall and started stabbing the hellion.  The hellion slammed its staff down.

“To … my … side …!” It hissed. The ice that covered the area, formed into small blue winged creatures.

“Oh come on!” Edna shouted in frustration.

“What did it do now?” Rose asked as the ice sprite things ran into her repeatedly. “Ow ow ow ow!” She cried as she ran behind Sergei who had his face and eyes covered with his arms where the ice sprites slammed into him turning into little ice bits from the impact. Edna threw up a stone wall and got behind it.

“It summoned ice feys, they’re just fancy tiny projectiles that are just annoying.” Said Edna.

“Die!” The Lich hissed slamming its staff down again but instead of ice feys the air around them got suddenly colder and snow started blowing at them. Rose felt a painful chill coming from her feet she looked down and saw ice starting to encase her along with everyone else.

“I thought you said this thing was weak!” Rose shouted.

“Normally.” Said Edna.

“The hell does that mean?” Rose shouted.

 “Well usually a Lich this young should’ve been purified by now after the beating we gave it. This one is just stubborn as hell.” Edna explained. As time passes it became colder and the ice slowly crawled up their bodies. “Rose. Remember my true name?”

“Yeah?”

“Try to use it.” Said Edna. “Just trust me on this.” Rose fell silent for a moment.

“R-R-Rose?” Sergei shivered.

“Hephsin Yulind!” Rose shouted. Edna went back into Rose’s body her she then started glowing. “What the?!” She then felt the sensation of being encrusted with earth then it peeled off leaving Rose with long golden hair tied to the side and in a white outfit that looked similar to Edna’s but was sleeveless and showed off her back, it had more ribbon and had flower decorations on her hips as well as around the ankles on the rather heavy boots. To Sergei it did not look any different. “What the …” Said Rose looking at her hands with a pair of giant rock fists at her sides mirroring her movements. “What is this?”

 _“This is the armatus.”_ She heard Edna say. _“It is basically a fusion between the shepherd and a seraph using that sacred gauntlet as a weapon.”_

“Cool. Let’s kick some ass!” Said Rose clenching her fists with the hovering fists doing the same. She rushed forward at the Lich. It clenched its teeth and threw up an ice wall. Rose however destroyed it with one punch causing the lich to try to back away. She then punched the Lich square in the jaw sending it flying straight into a boulder causing it to crack. It then slumped down and didn’t get back up. “Aw yeah we did it!” Rose cheered. “How does this come off?”

 _“You should be able to do it at will.”_ Said Edna.

“Okay, but its not coming off, and all I’m thinking is ‘get off.’” Said Rose.

 _“You’re kidding right?”_ Said Edna. Rose then glowed reverting back to normal and Edna appeared beside her. “Oh there it goes.”

“So … for now I have to wait until it comes off.”

“Yeah don’t mind me, not like I know what you two are talking about. Though I’m sure whatever you had on was fabulous.” Said Sergei. The form of the hellion faded into that of a white haired boy with blue tips dressed in primarily whites and blues with accents of gold and black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well since Edna is the prime lord here I wouldn't think that her armatus would look like the armatus Rose had in the original game where Lailah is the prime lord. Thus a different armatus design.


	9. Sub-Lord

Chapter 9: Sub-Lord

Rose noticed that since purifying the lich the malevolence had only slightly gone down.

“Seems like those dragon rumors may end up being true.” Said Edna.

“We should get out of here then.” Said Rose picking up the unconscious Seraph, getting him on her back.

“I agree with whatever’s going on.” Said Sergei. The three made their way down the mountain until they didn’t feel any malevolence from any possible dragon. When they got close to the base of the mountain the seraph on Rose’s back groaned and slowly opened his lavender eyes.

“Uuun … wha…?” He moaned.

 _“Oh hey the idiots awake.”_ Said Edna.

“Hey …” The seraph groaned. Rose ended up setting him down.

“What’s going on?” Sergei asked touching her shoulder.

“What … what happened?” The seraph asked weakly. Sergei jumped back.

“Ah! Wait did I just …” He started Rose turned her head.

“You heard him?” Edna asked. Sergei didn’t react.

“Sergei can you give me your hand again?” Rose asked, Sergei nodded and grabbed her hand. Rose turned back to the seraph. “Sorry about that, do you remember what happened like two months ago?”

“Two months ago?” Said the seraph rubbing the bridge of his nose. “What I’ve been doing for the last five years … maintaining ice walls, driving off humans, making it impossible to get up the mountain … feeding Bahamut-”

“Bahamut?” Rose questioned.

“The dragon that lives here.” Said the Seraph.

“So there really is a dragon here.” Said Sergei. The seraph nodded.

“You’re stupid enough to serve a dragon? No wonder you became a hellion.” Said Edna.

“What? How did …” The seraph began. “Oh that’s right … I was doing the same things I always do while thinking that if I do this Bahamut will calm down and he’ll turn back to normal. Before I could realize it, I turned into a hellion.”

“What do you mean he’ll turn back to normal?” Sergei asked.

“A dragon is a type of hellion that used to be a seraph but ended up being completely taken over with malevolence.” Said Edna. “While other hellions like a behir or lich can be purified dragons can never be purified. He’s just chasing a fantasy.”

“How could you say that?” The seraph hissed, gritting his teeth and shooting Edna a cold stare. Rose braced herself to hold the seraph back worried that he might just try to attack her.

“It’s the truth.” Said Edna, barely reacting to now more aggressive seraph. “If the shepherd wants to even try purifying a dragon, she won’t be able to do it, she’ll have to kill Bahamut.”

“Okay, but problem, I’m still learning the basics of being a shepherd, and … was Bahamut important to you before he turned?” Said Rose.

“Yes, and please leave it at that.” Said the seraph.

“Why?” Sergei asked.

“I can’t say any more, if I do Bahamut will leave the mountain and wreak havoc in either Marlind or Lady Lake.” Said the Seraph.

“Oh! You’re under one of those oath thingies!” Exclaimed Rose snapping her fingers.

“How do you know this?” Edna asked.

“Long story short Dezel took an oath when I was a kid to make me go vegetarian.” Said Rose. “It didn’t work.”

“What does an oath do and what happens when it doesn’t work?” Sergei asked.

“All I know is that if you break an oath you lose something.” Said Rose.

“Special powers that conform to certain restrictions.” Said the seraph. “My oath prevents me from talking too much about Bahamut so that he doesn’t leave Rayfalke.”

“So, would your powers be still intact if you say become a Lord of the Land?” Rose asked.

“They will.” The seraph confirmed.

“Great, since we purified you and all would you mind doing us a favor?” Rose asked clasping her hands together, the seraph crossed his arms.

“What is it?” He asked in a cold voice.

“We want you to become the Lord of the Land in Lady Lake.” Said Rose.

“No.” The seraph refused.

“What?!”

“I’m not doing it.”

“Sergei, you punch him and we drag him out.” Edna muttered.

“Not yet.” Muttered Rose holding her hand up towards Edna. “Why don’t you want to?” The Seraph looked back towards the summit.

“There has to be another way …” He said. “The world is a big place, I refuse to believe that killing Bahamut is the only way to save him, there should be an alternative somewhere and I can’t find it if I’m restricted to a stationary vessel at a sanctuary.” Rose scratched her chin and looked off to the side for a moment.

“What’s your name?” Rose asked.

“I’m Mikleo.” Said the seraph.

“Hey, Mikleo, why don’t you come with us?” Rose offered.

“What?” Sergei and Edna exclaimed.

“Rose, we need a Lord of the Land for Lady Lake.” Said Sergei.

“I’m stuck babysitting you two, I don’t want to deal with another child.” Muttered Edna.

“Eh, we can just beat the shit out of the Oroboros at Falkewin Hillside and purify it.” Said Rose. “And my suggestion to Elysia still stands in case that falls through. Besides you want to find some alternate to purify Bahamut right?” Mikleo nodded. “And hey, it works with our goal to purify all the hellions. Besides we can use more Seraphim since one of ours completely ditched us. What do you say?”

“I’ll do it.” Said Mikleo without any hesitations. “But I’m going to need a vessel or I might become a hellion again.”

“Then there’s not much of a choice then, you’re gonna have to be my sub-lord so we’re sharing this moron as a vessel.” Sighed Edna whacking Rose on the head with her umbrella.

“Ow! Hey!”

“But you’re not gonna armatize with her unless we find something that can allow you to do that. Still wanna do this?”

“Yes.”

“Fine …” Sighed Edna taking Mikleo’s hand. A blue light glowed around them. “Oh one born of sacred currents blah blah let us forge a pact something something recite your true name.”

“What the …” Mikleo started he then cleared his throat. “Luzrov Rulay.” Mikleo then vanished into Rose and reappeared moments later. “I can’t believe that worked.”

“I know.” Said Rose patting his shoulder. “C’mon let’s go purify an Oroboros!”

“Shepherd-!” Milkeo started.

“Rose will do just fine.” Said Rose.

“Rose, before we head off … here.” He gave her a round green jewel that was glowing in the center. Edna’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped. Sergei was similarly shocked.

“What’s this?” Rose asked.

“That’s an Iris gem!” Said Sergei grabbing Rose’s hand again. “These are only sold by specialty shops and are super rare and expensive. How did you get one?”

“I just stumbled across it one day.” Said Mikleo. “I hope that can be of use to you.”

“How so?” Rose asked holding the gem up towards the sky it then started glowing brightly and she gained a vision.

_A tall blond bearded man with violet eyes and a rather muscular body wearing fancy clothing smoothed out his hair as he opened the door to his home. He was greeted by a young woman with green eyes and a young man, he welcomed them in then offered the two to sit down at a table and prepared some tea for the couple. He sat down with them and started a conversation with the two, smiling like it was the first time in a long time something good happened to him. The woman said something looking down. The man gasped, about to cry with the biggest smile on his face. The woman got up and went over to him concerned. The man got up and hugged the woman gently and started crying into her shoulder._

The vision faded from Rose and she shook her head.

“That was just me right?” She asked.

“No … I saw it too.” Said Sergei.

“And that’s why Lich boy-“ Edna started.

“Mikleo!” Mikleo corrected.

“Whatever, thought this would be useful. Iris gems, or what they’re sometimes called, Earthen Historia, can give images to the past and it might provide answers about things like the Lord of Calamity or what became of the Shepherd and his merry band of shits from thirty years ago.” Said Edna.

“Huh.” Said Rose looking at the gem. She put it away. “So it would be best if we collect them as we go?” Said Rose.

“Pretty much.” Said Edna. “Now, we have that over with don’t we have something stupid to attend to Rose?”

“It’s not stupid, it was our first idea!” Rose pouted as the seraphim went back into her body and she and Sergei continued down the mountain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! The party has a second seraph ... with the ending of the Lady Lake arc nowhere in sight with this being a short chapter.


	10. Sneak, Fight, Run, and Hide

Chapter 10: Sneak, fight, run, and hide

When they got off the mountain they headed towards the hillside.

“You think that hellion is pissed off?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know, it looks like a waterspout to me.” Said Sergei.

 _“It probably is, why else would it be trying to tear down a bridge?”_ Said Edna.

 _“So upfront attacks would anger it more?”_ Said Mikleo.

_“It is an oroboros, Meebo-”_

_“Meebo? Where the hell did you get that?”_

_“It has a shit ton of malevolence built up in it so I guess an upfront attack would probably piss it off.”_

_“Wow … you sound **so** certain about this.”_

_“If we were physical I would’ve hit you.”_

“Ugh would you two just shut up!” Rose shouted, “Yes a hellion that we interrupted when it was in the middle of knocking down a bridge and then ran from would be pissed off! So unless either of you two have any bright ideas we’re gonna run in to fight it and run away if we’re about to die, screaming.”

 _“We could sneak up on it.”_ Said Mikleo.

“And how pray tell would we do that?” Rose asked. Mikleo got out of her body then went over to Sergei and started pushing him aside, or trying to. Sergei felt the force and looked at Rose confused, she shrugged then signaled him to move. Sergei then moved away from Rose. The water seraph went back to Rose, summoned his staff. He waved his staff and then a bubble surrounded her and Mikleo, and technically Edna.

“Rose!” Sergei called. He looked around panicked and started running around the area looking for her. “Rose? Rose!” Rose however looked over to Mikleo who had his finger in front of his lips. The two quietly walked over to Sergei still looking for Rose. Mikleo tapped on his armor making a “tink”, he turned around and the bubble popped. “Gah!” He shrieked, jumping back a bit when Rose suddenly appeared in front of him. “What the heck was that?”

“What is that?” Rose asked Mikleo.

“The spectral cloak, something I learned years ago.” He replied. “Since you’re my vessel I think you can use it as well.”

“It’s something that can allow us to sneak up on the Oroboros.” Said Rose.

“Well if that’s the case then let’s go.” Said Sergei.

 _“Yes, we need to restore Lady Lake’s blessing one way or another.”_ Said Edna. Mikleo went back into Rose’s body. Rose then put her hand in front of her summoning the bubble around her and Sergei. They walked closer to the Oroboros however it wasn’t exactly quiet since Sergei’s armor kept clanging catching the attention of every rabbit, squirrel, and hellion that they passed by.

“Mikleo.” Said Rose.

 _“Yeah?”_ He replied.

“The spectral cloak doesn’t block out sounds does it?” She asked.

 _“Unfortunately, no.”_ Said Mikleo.

“Crap …” She turned to Sergei. “Can you do something about your armor?”

“Not really, it’s naturally loud.” Said Sergei.

“How about we move slower?” Suggested Rose. Sergei shrugged and they started moving slower. However the clanging was replaced with slow, ear splitting, screeching that happened to be so much worse. “Oh fuck this!” Shouted Rose causing the spectral cloak to break. “Mikleo, can you take over?” Mikleo went out of her body.

“Yeah …?” He said.

“Sergei get on the ground I’m dragging you.”

“What?” Sergei exclaimed.

“You’re loud as fuck and with your armor you’re heavy, I doubt Mikleo can carry you, I can’t carry you by myself, and Edna wouldn’t want to if she could. Also I doubt we can have someone maintain the spectral cloak and carry you at the same time, so I’m dragging you.” Said Rose.

“Hey!” Snapped Mikleo.

“Oh fine I’ll get down.” Said Sergei then flopping on his back. Mikleo grumbled something as he put up the spectral cloak and Rose grabbed his ankles and dragged him down the hill side, leaving a trail of earth that Sergei‘s armor plowed through as they went. As they got closer they went over a pebble that caused Sergei’s armor to produce a loud “tink” startling Mikleo causing the bubble to break and the oroboros to come out of the river screeching at the party.

“Fuck!” Rose screamed.

“So much for trying to sneak up on it.” Said Edna coming out of Rose’s body. Sergei scrambled up and drew his sword.

“Hephsin Yulind!” Rose shouted armatizing with Edna. Sergei charged up to the oroboros but it whacked him aside with its tail and threw him into a tree. Rose charged up and tried to punch the hellion but it also whacked her aside, right on top of Sergei. Mikleo gave a long drawn sigh and casted healing artes on the two. They got back up and ran towards the hellion again only to end up in the same position, again with Mikleo needing to heal them, again. So they charged at it again while Mikleo casted a different arte with Rose and Sergei failing again but at least Mikleo’s spell managed to hit. However Rose managed to heal both her and Sergei.

“You know this isn’t working.” Said Mikleo.

 _“Noooo, where ever could you have gotten that idea?”_ Said Edna.

“No no, this is totally fine, all we need is one big attack or for Dezel to show up and somehow save our asses.” Said Rose.

_“You just want the armatus off don’t you?”_

“Yes … but that is besides the point! If we just give it our all we can take this hellion down!” Said Rose. And so they hit the hellion with everything they got and five seconds later they were on the ground in a dog pile with Mikleo being crushed under Sergei’s armored ass and Rose.

“Rose … can you please tell Sergei to get off.” Said Mikleo, by then the armatus came off and Edna was standing next to the pile with a shit eating grin on her face. Rose got off.

“Why Meebo you look so comfortable.” She said.

“Suffocating looks comfortable to you?” He replied.

“Sergei, can you get off of Mikleo?” Said Rose.

“Oh! My apologies Seraph Mikleo.” Said Sergei.

“It’s fine, we’re not dead yet.” Said Mikleo brushing himself off.

“Any more bright idea’s shepherd?” Said Edna in a mocking tone.

“Mikleo, get the spectral cloak ready we’re gonna have to make a break for it.” Said Rose.

“Really?” Said Sergei.

“Figures.” Said Mikleo waving his staff down creating that light refracting bubble once again. Rose signal for them to run they nodded and ran off with Sergei’s armor making a racket. When they got far enough away from the hellion they figured that they might as well camp for the night then head back to Lady Lake.

“You know this quest would have been so much easier if you’d just agree to be the Lord of the Land in the first place.” Said Edna.

“Maybe, maybe not. It still doesn’t change the fact that you all would still get your asses kicked on the way back to Lady Lake by the Oroboros.” Said Mikleo.

“Come on you two, we’ve had a bad day, now shut up and get some rest.” Said Sergei holding onto Rose’s hand.

“Yes let’s get some rest and go for Elysia, maybe try to find Dezel and or get you something that could get me to armatize with you.” Said Rose.

“If you’re gonna do that, then unfortunately I can’t really join you this time.” Said Sergei.

“Right, you have a job that you’re brother is covering for you.” Said Rose.

“Great … more busy work.” Said Edna. “I highly doubt that we could get something that could allow Meebo to armatize with you since things like my gauntlet are few and far between.”

“Think they would be found in ruins or somethings like that?” Rose asked.

“If they haven’t been looted, remember some places didn’t create good security for their dead or ceremonial buildings so over time they could have gotten looted.” Said Mikleo. “If any of these sacred relics have been stolen they would likely either end up in a museum or on the black market.”

“So you like history and ruins and stuff like that?” Rose asked.

“Yeah, I used to always read the Celestial Record and dreamed of exploring ruins all over the world.” Said Mikleo.

“Hm … I think I might know someone that might help.” Said Rose. “Anyway, let’s hit the hay, I’m beat.” Rose let go of Sergei’s hand, flopped back, and fell asleep. The next day Rose woke up in Lady Lake’s inn. _‘Wait what?’_ Rose thought, she jolted up and wondered if the last few days were just a dream with Mikleo and Edna standing at the foot of the bed.

“Morning sleepy beauty.” Said Edna.

“What happened and how did I get here?” Rose asked.

“Well you weren’t really waking up and you had a fever so we figured that you managed to get sick from the sub-lord pact and exhausted from running and screaming everywhere yesterday.” Said Edna.

“Sergei carried you back here and went back to his job afterwards.” Said Mikleo.

“Great. Anyway you know if the Sparks are still in town?”

“What about going to Elysia?” Mikleo asked.

“That could wait, maybe.” Said Rose. “I want to ask one of them something.” She got out of bed and headed outside with Edna and Mikleo going back into her body. She ran around Lady Lake until she found Muse doing some shopping. “Muse!” She called as she went over to her. She then stared at her baffled at the fact of her shopping for some sort of medicine. “Aren’t you part of a merchant’s guild?”

“We don’t carry everything.” Shrugged Muse. “Need something?”

“Yeah. I wanna talk to Sorey know where he is?” Rose asked.

“He’s at the inn.” She replied. “He’s been having breathing trouble lately so we’re staying here for a few extra days.”

“Oh …” Said Rose.

“I think he might be fine to talk by now.” Said Muse. “You can give him the medicine.” She handed her a black pouch. “Just mix this in with some hot water and have him drink it.”

“You sure he doesn’t need more rest of something?” Rose asked.

“Like I said, he might be fine by now. Plus I think he would like some more company.” Said Muse.

“Okay … thanks Muse.” Said Rose. Mikleo left Rose’s body as she headed towards the inn and looked back at Muse for a while. Just for a moment Muse seemed to notice him as well. “Mikleo!” Rose called snapping him out of his thoughts he ran after Rose as they headed back to the inn. Rose asked the innkeeper where Sorey was and she directed him to the room. She knocked on the door. “Sorey, I’m coming in.” She said opening the door to find a familiar old man with yellow tipped hair, in purple robes and wearing some sort of stilt shoes standing next to the bed Sorey currently sleeps in. “You!” She cried. Edna came out of her body.

“Oh, it’s you again.” She said.

“Well … It’s a pleasure to see you two again.” He said.

“You know him?” Mikleo asked.

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a long story, I just became a shepherd and my friend Dezel turned into a hellion, Edna and I had to fight him, and uh …” Rose started, and turned to the old seraph. “I don’t think we ever got your name.”

“Zenrus.” He said.

“Thank you.” Said Rose turning back to Mikleo, “Zenrus saved my life when Dezel was about to blast my face off.”

“Uh … huh …” Said Mikleo.

“So … what brings you to this unconscious kid’s room?” Rose asked. Mikleo sighed and face palmed.

“I’m doing a favor for Muse, since she normally can’t take care of Sorey when he gets his episodes.” Said Zenrus.

“Episodes?” Mikleo questioned.

“Yes, from the time he was but a babe he would suddenly have coughing fits and could barely breathe, sometimes it would be bad enough that he would pass out.” Said Zenrus. “He couldn’t do much the days after they happen because he would be so weak, the best we can do is my healing and the medications he’s been prescribed to.”

“Including what’s in here?” Rose asked taking out the black pouch.

“Yes.” Said Zenrus then walking over to Rose and getting the pouch from her.

“Sounds like a pain to try to keep a dying boy alive for this long, why would you go through the trouble?” Edna asked.

“For one, Muse is a good friend of mine. I knew her since she was a little girl, when she was running around with _those_ shits.” Said Zenrus. “She asked me to help her take care of this child and …” he glanced over to Mikleo then looked back to the sleeping Sorey, “she formed the Light Sparks and they somewhat became a new family to me.”

“What shits?” Rose asked. Zenrus didn’t respond.

“So are the Light Sparks resonant?” Mikleo asked.

“The majority of them aren’t.” Zenrus replied. “Muse definitely has resonance, however in big cities like this she pretends she isn’t as to not scare the people because that would create malevolence.” They heard a moan coming from Sorey. “If you three want to talk to him, I think I should leave you be while I prepare the medicine.” Said Zenrus as he left the room. Rose looked over to Sorey seemingly love struck for some reason.

“Wow …” Mikleo thought he heard Sorey whisper, Rose and Edna heard the whisper too. They smirked and snorted to try to keep themselves from laughing.

“Hey Sorey.” Said Rose when she regained her composure.

“Hi.” Sorey said softly.

“I wanna ask you some things. First off how are you doing?” She asked.

“I’m fine.” He replied.

“Dude we both know that’s bullshit, I mean you had that bad coughing fit a few days ago and now you’re bedridden.” Said Rose. “How are you really?”

“Okay okay.” Sorey sighed. “I’m drowsy cuz I just woke up and my chest and throat hurt a bit. But I should be fine within a day or two. Again this isn’t anything new.” He assured.

“You sure about that?” Rose asked.

“He seems oddly okay with constantly getting sick.” Said Mikleo.

“I mean … there’s no reason to dwell on it I’ve always been this way, and a lot of people say there’s nothing we can do about it.” Said Sorey.

“Seems to be damn miracle that you’re still alive huh.” Said Rose crossing her arms. Sorey laughed weakly. “I don’t mean to change subjects too quickly but you’re interested in history and ruins right?” Sorey’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah!” He said as cheerfully as he could in his current condition, Mikleo turned to him. “They’re our link to the past, and reading about them was the only thing I was able to do as a kid! … When I get out of bed and get a break from work I really want to explore ruins all over the world.”

“Everybody who’s read the Celestial Record wants to do that.” Said Mikleo, Rose could swear that she could see a smile creep across his face, that immediately turned back into a slight frown. “Unfortunately, none of us ever will.”

“Do you know any ruins that are nearby?” Rose asked.

“Well … there’s the aqueduct which I think the majority is off limits but I think there are other passage ways hidden throughout the city.” Said Sorey. “And there are the Galahad ruins which are among the few that haven’t been stolen from.”

“Why would that be?” Rose asked.

“Like the aqueducts, it’s protected by the king. I think it’s considered holy ground … since it contains holy water that royalty uses before coronations.” He said.

“Would it be possible for it to contain like some sort of holy relic?” Rose asked.

“Maybe … it is protected so I don’t see why not.” Said Sorey.

“So where would these ruins be?” Rose asked.

“A bit up north close to Aroundight forest, though I think there was a rock slide that ended up blocking most the area between the Galahad ruins and the Aroundight forest.” Said Sorey.

“If it involves crossing a bridge and going past an abandoned village I think I may know a shortcut.” Said Edna.

“All right, cool. Also have you seen a wind seraph anywhere?” Rose asked again.

“Um … nope nope, totally not at all I mean I absolutely can’t see any seraphs much less a wind seraph.” Said Sorey. Mikleo gave a long drawn out sigh while Rose and Enda gave each other a knowing look.

“Right … okay. Thanks again Sorey, hey Mikleo can you heal him?” Said Rose.

“Huh?” Said Sorey.

“Maybe, since this is a long existing condition that’s been messing with his breathing I’m not sure how much I can do for him, but I’ll try to give it a go.” Said Mikleo. Mikleo turned to Sorey with his hands hovering above him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A light blue light came from his hands and glowed for a little bit before fading.

“So how do you feel?” Rose asked.

“Well … my chest hurts a little less, but I’m still gonna be bedridden for a bit.” Said Sorey. “But thank you, for the company … and trying to make me feel a bit better.”

“Hey, no problem, how about we give you some rest.” Said Rose.

“Yeah, sounds good.” Said Sorey. They let Sorey go back to sleep.

“I think I know what we should do next.” Said Rose. “We’re gonna check out the Galahad Ruins to see if there is one of those sacred relics there. If not then we would be close enough to Elysia that we could ask one of the seraphs there if they can help us out. Then we can look for some secret entrance to the Aqueducts to try to find something to help us with the Oroboros.”

“You know, usually you’d do the closest thing first but whatever.” Said Edna.

“Hey, either way we’re exploring ruins so it sounds good to me.” Said Mikleo.

“Great! Just let me write a note to Sergei and we’ll be on our way.” Said Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp that didn't work out as planned and oh dear it looks like Sorey has a case of Ambigins Soapoperaitis a strange disease that behaves according to how the writer wants to either shoehorn in drama, fluff, or put them out of commission for a time. Plus since it's abundantly obvious that Sorey can't hide the fact that he's resonant to everyone but Sorey himself everybody knows now that Sorey still thinks Mikleo is hot.


	11. The Bow Upon a Pedestal of Dicks

Chapter 11: The bow upon a pedestal of dicks

Rose wrote a note that said:

_Sergei, We’re going to the Galahad Ruins. If you end up getting worried because you think we’re gonna do something stupid feel free to catch up with us. Rose._

Then went to the barracks and gave it to the closest soldier and asked them to give it to Sergei. Then Rose with the two seraphim got out of Lady Lake and headed to the Galahad ruins. About a day and a half later on the path back towards the way to Elysia they found a boulder blocking the way to the ruins, so Rose punched it clearing the way and they continued forward. When they got into the Galahad ruins Rose felt the same surge of malevolence that she feels every time she goes to Lady Lake, except much less severe.

“There are some hellions here.” She said.

 _“These ruins shouldn’t be too big since judging from what Sorey said it’s a place of ritual but whatever’s here would be particularly nasty.”_ Said Mikleo.

“Bold guess on what this place was used for.” Said Rose.

 _“Hey it’s a very logical conclusion since there is holy water being enshrined here.”_ Said Mikleo. Rose continued further into the ruins until she approached a white bow with a blue bowstring and blue ends on top of a pedestal.

“Hello, what do we have here?” Said Rose. The seraphim came out of her body and looked around the pedestal.

“Curious …” Mikleo started. “This bow seems to be purely ceremonial … maybe this was part of a ritual for whatever’s up ahead?”

“You know, what’s carved into the pedestal may be a bit … eye opening.” Said Edna. The other two went over to where she stood.

 _“Leave all artifacts in the ruins but treasure chests are fair game so go nuts.”_ Mikleo read. He then looked off to the side of the message. “… Oh.”

“Is this advice or a joke?” Rose asked.

“This is most likely a joke.” Said Mikleo downtrodden.

“What makes you say that?” Asked Rose.

“There’s a crude carving of a penis right next to it.” Said Mikleo. “Plus there are other inscriptions nearby that roughly translate to things like: _Need any balls Kern? Cuz your mom got plenty from me last night_ and _Daisy and Marcus fucked here._ ” Rose walked around the pedestal.

“Lovely. That’s a lot of dicks drawn on here.” Said Rose. “And what I assume are very vulgar inscriptions.”

“Humans never change.” Sighed Edna.

“… That’s it?” Asked Mikleo.

“Well what else can you say about it, it’s a pedestal with a bunch of dicks drawn on it.” Said Rose.

“What else? Are either of you upset that this pedestal for what is most likely a holy relic has been so blatantly vandalized?” Exclaimed Mikleo.

“Meebo, the walls surrounding the sanctuary have either the same things carved in or half-finished murals so by sheer scale this doesn’t seem as blasphemous.” Said Edna.

“Not as bla- … this is defacing a holy relic! Do any of you know what that means?” Shouted Mikleo growing more flustered.

“I don’t care.” Said Edna.

“I’m not really getting what’s making you so worked up.” Said Rose.

“I’m not getting worked up!” Mikleo claimed. “It’s just … how could people do this to something vital to their culture?”

“I dunno. Maybe for the same reasons Lady Lake has that gel powder problem?” Rose shrugged. Mikleo’s eyes lit up.

“Wait … I think you’re onto something Rose!” He said.

“I am?” Said Rose.

“She is?” Said Edna simultaneously.

“Of course! The celestial record has always described that every few hundred years or so there will be people that will feel that the current regime isn’t doing anything to help with their suffering or even make it worse. So the people will take to actions that they think will help them feel better about the current situation whether it’s going on a drug or in this case defacing a relic’s pedestal.” Mikleo rambled.

“Okay … you lost me.” Said Rose.

“Meebo, I think you’re completely ignoring the fact that humans are either stupid, awful, or in rare cases both, and like to announce that fact.” Said Edna.

“Hey!” Said Rose.

“While you’re not awful you are pretty stupid.” Said Edna.

“Oh come on, while I don’t know a lot humans I’m sure they are more than that.” Said Mikleo.

“Boy are you in for a rude awakening.” Said Edna.

“So … are we gonna do anything about this bow or just leave it here?” Rose asked.

“Well with this it might be best if …” Mikleo started reaching out for the bow, when he touched it the artifact emitted a soft blue light. He then quickly withdrew his hand. “You saw that right?”

“Kind of.” Said Rose. Mikleo touched the bow again.

“Meeeeeeebooooo” Said Edna trying to imitate a ghost.

“Gah AAAAAAAAAAAH!” Rose screamed. Mikleo looked over unamused. He looked back at the bow.

“Taaaaaaaaaaake meeeeeeeee …” Said Edna.

“Stop that!” Rose shouted.

“IIIIIIIII don’t liiiiiiiiiiiiike thiiis pedestaaaaaaaaaaaal …”

“Mikleo just take the bow and make her stop!”

“This is protected by the government.” Said Mikleo.

“I don’t think they’re gonna care!” Said Rose. “I mean they didn’t care enough about this bow that they didn’t bother to cover up the dicks drawn on its pedestal so I don’t think they’ll care if it’s taken by a seraph!”

“Well people loose the ability to read the-” Mikleo started.

“Take it!” Rose interrupted. “I don’t want Edna to start creepily speaking again!”

“This is-” Mikleo started again.

“I don’t care just take it and we’ll replace it with a tree branch. Hold on …” Said Rose running out then ran back in with a branch about as long as the bow. “We can use this!”

“You’re joking right?” Said Mikleo.

“Nope, like I said they won’t even miss it, in fact the next time there’s a coronation that needs this people will think that due to neglect it became a piece of crap.” Said Rose.

“That makes no sense and it still has leaves on it.” Said Mikleo.

“Oh I can fix that. Just give me ten minutes.” Said Rose clearing the branch off of any leaves and stray twigs she then pulled out a string that was most likely her (and Dezel’s) hair and tied it on the end of the branch to make it more bow like. Contrary to what she said it took thirty minutes. “There, now take the stupid bow!”

“All right all right!” Said Mikleo taking the bow. The bow continued glowing in Mikleo’s hands as Rose replaced it with her makeshift ‘bow.’ Edna looked at the bow for a moment.

“Let’s continue.” She said.

“What? No quick remarks on how this was all honestly pretty stupid?” Said Rose.

“No. I’m doing what you usually do and follow a knee jerk reaction.” Said Edna. “There’s still something in these ruins and that bow just might help us.” They walked deeper into the ruins, with Rose taking up the joke and opening treasure chests only for Mikleo to stop her from taking any of the loot inside as it’s government protected and she could lose her head. When they got to a particular hallway they heard hissing.

“What was that?” Rose asked quickly drawing out her knives.

“Above!” Mikleo shouted. The three jumped back as a bunch of centipede like hellions fell from the ceiling.

“Great toxic hellions.” Said Edna. “Try not to get attacked by them.”

“Though that’s unlikely seeing that we have to plough through them to get further in.” Said Rose. “Hephsin Yulind!” When she armatized she ran forward and punched several of the centipedes. However they got back up. “What the?”

 _“These guys seem to be pretty resilient.”_ Said Edna.

“Surging currents … Twin Flow!” Mikleo chanted and two spouts of water flew forward and splashed onto the hellions and they curled back shrieking in pain. A spark flickered in his eyes “Fractured ice, Freeze Lancer! Water spread my foe!” He chanted again casting two seraphic artes in very quick succession. The ice fragments followed by a torrent of water flew forward and made their marks on the hellions giving him the same reaction while Rose tried to push through the hellions. He looked down at the bow then back at Rose. “Rose! Use my true name!”

“What?” Rose and Edna exclaimed just as the armatus wore off.

“Just trust me on this!” Said Mikleo. Rose grit her teeth.

“Luzrov Rulay!” She shouted. She felt a sensation of being plunged into water when she called his name. When sensation wore off she was in her amatized form that almost exactly like her and Edna’s armatus except where there were once traces of yellow had been replaced by blue and she had the bow that they stole in her hands, except fancier. “Holy shit it worked.”

 _“Well, don’t just stand there let’s go!”_ Said Mikleo.

“All right.” Said Rose. As if she wasn’t in any control of her own she pulled back the bowstring, as she did so a blue light formed in a straight line from her fingertips to the bow leaving a point in the end resembling an arrow. “Whoa …” Rose gasped.

 _“Let go.”_ Said Mikleo. Rose released the bowstring sending the arrow forward with a trail of light streaking behind it piercing through the hellions purifying them as it went until it vanished. Rose smirked then backed up and shot another energy arrow going through more hellions. She repeated this a few more times until all the hellions were gone.

“Holy shit … Mikleo that was awesome!” Rose cheered. “If this armatus was off I would hug you!”

“Yes you gained a new power but you still can’t remove your armatus at will. Boy you have everything together.” Said Edna dryly.

“Yeah yeah I get it I’m a dumb hot mess.” Said Rose.

 _“Nobody said that Rose … explicitly.”_ Said Mikleo.

“Well it goes to show that I can handle myself perfectly fine and I don’t need Dezel to stalk me and interfere when he thinks I’m in trouble!” Said Rose growing louder with each word, by then the armatus wore off. Mikleo had a confused look on his face.

“Long story short Meebo, Dez-erter turned into a hellion that we ended up purifying and he left due to some strength bullshit and Rose is angry that they didn’t talk first.” Said Edna.

“Dezerter? Really?” Said Mikleo.

“Let’s go.” Said Rose. They continued further into the ruin until they reached the small waterfall pouring into a pool at the end. “So this is the holy water that’s contained here.” Said Rose scanning the waterfall up and down until she spotted something at the bottom of the pool. She removed her shepherd’s cloak and jacket.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Asked Mikleo.

“There’s something on the bottom of the waterfall.”

“No.” Said Mikleo. “You’re not going to steal something from this ruin again.”

“It’s just a quick look I’ll put it back once I see what it is.” Said Rose.

“Rose, it could be a tra-” Mikleo started.

“No let her do this, I wanna see here this goes.” Said Edna. Rose reached into the pool and patted around as the surface of the water made the object blurry. When she grabbed it she pulled it out a red jewel with light emitting from it. Then a vision came to her.

_A tall pale man with chin length black hair and light green eyes, a dark skinned chubby woman with black hair wearing a brown hat that had a tendency to cover her eyes holding a baby, and a taller redheaded woman were at a table discussing something. The man pulled out a map and traced his finger over routes from the part of the map labeled ‘Pendrago’ to other places, some of them leading into the continent north of Glennwood or even farther off. The other two women would bring up something that would cause the man to take back his planned course of action. They continued for hours on end, with the occasional stops so the black haired woman would nurse the child or the man would either play with the child’s toes or change their diaper. The man took a quill and circled a location on the map north of the ‘Aroundight Forest’ label and surrounded by a mountain range._

“So this is another Iris gem.” Said Rose.

“Looks like it.” Said Edna.

“You know there’s something that seems familiar with those three.” Said Rose.

“Really.” Said Mikleo as if he’d figured out something but is just being coy about it until everyone else realizes the same thing.

“Yeah I mean that hat one of the women was wore looked almost exactly like Dezel’s.” Said Rose.

“That’s it?” Mikleo asked.

“Yeah.” Said Rose.

“Nothing else on any of them that seem to strike you as familiar?”

“Nope.” Said Rose. Mikleo did a two handed face palm and gave a long drawn out sigh.

“Anyway from the looks of it they were planning something.” Said Mikleo.

“Now that you mention it … they were looking for a location and a route for something.” Said Rose.

“Can we get out of here now?” Edna asked. “We got another Iris gem with us. So can we please go to Elysia already?” So they left the ruins and went back through the shortcut they made to Aroundight forest and after a few hours they made it to Elysia.

“Rose!” Cried Lafarga going up to her and hugging her. “Oh thank goodness you’re safe when you and Dezel left without a note and my- wait … where’s Dezel?”

“I don’t know, we kind of ended up splitting a few days ago.” Said Rose. “But I think he-”

“What?!” Lafarga exclaimed. “That’s down right reckless of him! Doesn’t he know that without a vessel he could easily become corrupted and turn into a hellion?”

“True story.” Mikleo muttered to Rose.

“Well he did-” Rose began.

“Oh no that’s even worse! Without the power of purification he can’t return to his normal form and will have to be killed!”

“Don’t worry I became the Shepherd and purified him. He just left.”

“That’s just as bad! Having been hellionized before increases the risk of turning back into one unless you find a suitable vessel!” Lafarga lamented.

“That explains a lot.” Said Edna glaring at Mikleo.

“If you recall I said that I wanted to help Bahamut and being a Lord of the Land won’t help.” Reminded Mikleo. “You were there.”

“I’m sure he’s fine. Anyway I wanted to ask like Kyme or Natalie if-” Said Rose.

“Oh god this is not how I planned for things to work out … Rose you need to go find him!” Lafarga panicked.

“We were going to get to that but I kinda need someone that can be the Lord of the Land in Lady Lake.” Said Rose.

“Not until you find Dezel.” Said Lafarga.

“What why? I’m not asking you to be the Lord of the Land! I just want someone in the village because there’s an oroboros nearby that keeps beating our asses to the ground!” Said Rose.

“That’s what Dezel turned into?”

“No! He turned into a Behir, there’s a big difference! And like I said we purified him!”

“Then why are you here?”

“I told you I need one of the villagers to be Lady Lake’s Lord of the Land!”

“Well there’s no need to shout Rose!”

“Me? You’re the one who freaked out over Dezel and wouldn’t listen to me!”

“Sorry sorry …” Said Lafarga then taking a deep breath. “It’s just I was so worried that you two left without a single word and the fact you’re almost never without Dezel, except when you go hunting or he locks himself in, scares me that something bad happened either to him or between the two of you.”

“Anyway I became the Shepherd.” Said Rose putting her hands on her hips and puffing out her chest to show off the cape Muse made.

“I can see that, and I assume that these two are your prime and sub-lords?” Lafarga asked.

“Yeah, she’s the prime-lord and he’s the sub-lord.” Said Rose gesturing to Edna and Mikleo.

“Huh.” Said Lafarga rubbing his chin. “When Eizen said he had knew someone that could help I didn’t expect it would be his little sister.”

“Eizen?” Said Mikleo.

“Who?” Said Rose simultaneously.

“I don’t know about that but I do know that when I find him and Zavied I’m gonna whack them over the head with this.” Said Edna tapping her umbrella to the ground.

“All right, I understand the frustration with Eizen but Zavied?” Said Lafarga.

“That asshole is the only one that knows where my brother is but no one has seen him since the beginning of this stupid age.” Said Edna.

“True. Honestly, they could’ve written to us every once in a while. I mean those two could be dead for all we know. Did you get anything from Lailah, I think she may still be on continent.”

“I really only ran into her once, she said that she only saw them once and they didn’t give her any idea on where they went.” Said Edna.

“Yeah you completely lost us.” Said Rose.

“I’ll tell you another time, promise.” Said Lafarga. “Now don’t you have any seraphs you want to ask?”

“Okay, we’re going.” Sighed Rose. The three headed into the village. Looking at the three Lafarga laughed to himself, and then to the sky.

“You know whether you intended it or not you may have created another … Hellion Incapacitating Squad cuz they look so much like you all and more or less followed your footsteps. Maybe they can fix what’s been broken.” He said.

In the village they didn’t have any luck as some of the Elysians reacted in a similar fashion as Lafarga when it came to Rose being back in the village but without Dezel. Sometimes it was so bad that they didn’t even realize that she had two other seraphs with her and she became the Shepherd. However after most of the seraphs they talked to calmed down a lot of them seemed pretty reluctant to help, especially since they were still dealing with Mason’s death. Natalie in particular was still distraught over Mason that the three figured that it just wouldn’t be a good idea to make a grieving seraph a Lord of the Land. According to Mikleo and Edna feelings like frustration, fear, and grief makes a seraph more susceptible to being corrupted by malevolence thus putting them at a higher risk of becoming a hellion, especially in places with high levels of malevolence.

“Or something like that.” Edna would tend to wave off. So they went to every seraph in the village and every one of them somehow didn’t want to help due to the risks of corruption or the three felt that it would be a bad idea to bring the seraph along for whatever reason. Though it’s mostly that the seraph didn’t want to because of what happened to Mason.

“Well shit. We went through the whole village and not a single one wanted to help.” Said Rose.

“Well grief can be a pretty powerful motivator to not want to do something that took a loved one away.” Said Mikleo.

“You act like you’re an expert on this Meebo.” Said Edna, unimpressed.

“I’m not.”

“Well nice to see that you have some sense of humility.” She said twirling her umbrella.

“Ugh … anyway we probably shouldn’t have tried to ask them since they’re still dealing with a loss, the wounds are probably still fresh.” Said Mikleo.

“Does this mean we have to go back to the Oroboros?” Asked Edna.

“Yes.” Said Mikleo bluntly. Edna stomped her foot.

“Before we go I need to do something.” Said Rose separating from the two seraphs. She went to Lafarga.

“Did you get what you need?” Lafarga asked.

“… No.” Said Rose, “We’re going to set out soon.”

“Well if that’s the case why don’t you and your friends stay for the night?” Lafarga offered.

“Really? You were iffy about Sergei.” Said Rose.

“That was a baseless worry.” He admitted. “And I am sorry about that.”

“I want to ask you where Mason’s grave is.” Said Rose. Lafarga’s face then grew solemn.

“Oh … he said. It’s on a cliff’s edge by Mabinogio.” Said Lafarga.

“Thanks.” Said Rose. She walked to the area around the Mabinogio ruins and found a stick lodged into the ground being held up by rocks she took that to mean that was Mason’s resting place. “Hey Mason.” She said. She knelt at the grave and was quiet for a moment. She took a deep breath. “Well I’m back … without Dezel. But hey I’m the shepherd now and I can purify hellions now so I don’t have to either run from them or kill them. And I made some new friends, that Sergei guy that stayed with me, two members from a merchant’s guild that helped me with the first steps of being a shepherd named Sorey and Muse, … oh and two seraphs. Their names are Edna and Mikleo. Well honestly I’m a bit iffy on calling Mikleo a friend since I met him less than a week ago and honestly he tried to kill me when we first met cuz he was kinda hellionized. Though it was because he was working for a dragon. I’m sure I’ll warm up to calling him a friend since he is with me to try to find a way to cure the dragon.

“And then there’s Edna, she is my Prime-lord and she is about as clueless about her job as I am about mine.” She laughed. “But despite that we’re still managing, even though we fuck up so so often. She’s often criticizing my tendency to act on my instincts and for being about as dumb as she is about our respective duties. She also pretty sarcastic most of the time but I think she means well most of the time, actually, no, some of the time. I wonder what you would say now … would you be laughing? Or would you be like everyone else and freak out over the fact that we just left without saying a word and that Dezel’s not here? No you wouldn’t do that, at least I think you wouldn’t … You did tell me that I was your favorite when we were kids …

“We ran into your murderer again, but we still couldn’t do anything about him. We had to be saved by an assassin’s guild known as the Scattered Bones and Dezel temporarily turned into a hellion because of it. That’s why he’s not here now, turning into a hellion may have messed him up … I don’t know … he doesn’t emote well unless I’m trying to hunt one of the animals he tried to keep. So yeah he left on his own to do something. He’s so stupid sometimes you know? We’re both new to the outside world so you’d think it’d be good if we worked together but he never told me about this and we never got to talking about it. Ugh … I’m sorry.” She reached into a belt pouch and pulled out an herb that she picked off the ground while traveling back to Elysia. “Here … They’re not flowers and Mikleo and Edna would kill me if they found out but might as well leave something for you right?” She placed them in front of the stick then got back up. “See ya around Mason.” She went back to Elysia, Edna stood at the front gate.

“Finished your errand?” She asked.

“Yeah, where’s Mikleo?”

“Meebo’s at Lafarga’s house reading some books, it’s boring waiting for you.” Said Edna.

“You could’ve occupied yourself you know.” Said Rose.

“The problem is my sources of entertainment were preoccupied.” Said Edna.

“Hey! I’m the damn shepherd not your personal play thing!” Protested Rose, followed by a bop on the head with Edna’s umbrella. “Stop that!”

“Stop whining, it’s getting late, we’re grabbing Meebo and crashing at your place.” Said Edna. Rose looked confused for a moment and looked at the sky to see it was already sundown. She shrugged, thinking they might as well go with it and start heading towards Falkewin in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Eizen is alive ... probably, and as you can guess he's not a dragon so he is definitely not Bahamut. And that first part of the chapter was so I can make a "vulgar ancients" joke.


	12. Oroboros, The  Third Time

Chapter 12: Oroboros, the third time

The next morning they left Elyisa, saying their goodbyes to the village and then went through Aroundight forest. On the road back towards Lady Lake they ran into Sergei completely out of breath from running and looking like he might collapse.

“Hi Sergei.” Said Rose crossing her arms. Her only reply was his heavy breathing. “Did you really run all the way here in heavy plate armor?” She asked.

“Yes…” He wheezed. It took about ten minutes for him to recover from sprinting in heavy ass plate armor, but he was still sweating.

“So, you apparently finished some work and got my note.” Said Rose.

“Sorry, I tried to get to you as fast as I could but I was busy trying to assemble reinforcements to try to help out with the Marlind situation.” Said Sergei.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” Said Mikleo. “I mean sure you can send in military medics but sending in soldiers to a plague town might make it worse.”

“Is it for quarantine?” Rose asked.

“Yes, the plague has gotten so bad that we need to deploy soldiers to quarantine the city. On top of that I had to make more arrests for gel powder as well as burning a bunch of dead bodies.” Said Sergei.

“Sounds … lovely ...” Said Rose.

“Oh and I got into a fight with one of my superiors over our gel powder policy so any chance for a promotion anytime soon won’t happen.” Said Sergei.

“Ask him if they’re concerned about you yet.” Edna ordered.

“Has anyone gotten any concerns over me yet?” Asked Rose.

“No, they only thing anyone has heard about you is that you saved a guy from drowning, other than that you just seem like a benign idiot to them.” Said Sergei.

“Keep it that way.” Said Edna.

“Well … that’s honestly demeaning, though Edna seems to think that it’s a good thing for some reason.” Said Rose.

“Hey, I hear it’s a bad thing for shepherds to get too involved with humans and gain attention from some rather unsavory politicians.” Said Enda.

“Did you get that from what little you may have gotten from this Eizen fellow?” Mikleo asked. Edna didn’t respond.

“I see, but anyway I managed to get some time off so I went after you to see if I can still get you at the Galahad ruins.” Said Sergei.

“Oh we’ve already been there.” Said Rose.

“You did?” asked Sergei sounding shocked with a hint of sadness to his voice.

“Yeah, we found this bow on a pedestal with dicks drawn all over it, which gave me a new armatus and we found another Iris gem. So we went to Elysia to find a Lord of the Land with, as you can see, no success so we’re heading back to Falkewin.” Rose summarized.

“I missed it?” Sergei complained.

“Well not all of it, like I said, we’re heading to Falkewin to try again with the Oroboros, wanna come?” Rose asked.

“Sure.” Shrugged Sergei.

“Great let’s go!” Said Rose. “Uh Edna is Sergei’s squire pact still intact?” She then muttered to Edna.

“Hold on.” Said Edna going up to Sergei. She ran her finger down his spine, he shivered. She scratched her chin then jabbed him in the back with her umbrella.

“Ugh ow!” He cried.

“Now it is.” She said.

“Edna?” Said Sergei turning to her.

“Wait you can hear her?” Rose asked.

“Yeah.”

“Sweet now we don’t have to be touching to have you hear the seraphim! Not that touching is a bad thing it’s just-” Rose rambled.

“Rose, stop before you hurt yourself.” Said Mikleo.

“Hey!” Rose snapped.

“Can we get going already?” Edna moaned.

“By the way, while I was working I did manage to find Father Bruenor.”Said Sergei as they started traveling.

“Oh, yeah … he’s a thing.” Said Rose.

“You completely forgot didn’t you?” Said Sergei.

“Yep.” Said Rose. “So what did he say about the Seraph and prop sword situation?”

“He agreed to help and worship whatever seraph we got.” Said Sergei.

“Well that’s good news.” Said Rose. “So we can get Father Bruenor as soon as we get a seraph and hope we don’t die.”

“We’re not gonna die Rose.” Said Mikleo, “You’ve gotten stronger in the like five days we’ve been around this area.”

“Which would be a big difference for most Shepherds.” Said Edna.

“Most shepherds didn’t take down a behir that happened to be their best friend on the first day.” Rose said. A couple days later they were at the river bank at of the still raining Falkewin hillside again. This time with a crowd of people by the now broken bridge. Sergei went up to a soldier.

“What’s going on here?” He asked.

“Oh, captain Sergei.” Said a female soldier. “These people were about to go over the bridge when it suddenly collapsed so we had to try to save as many as we can. Unfortunately some folks were lost to the river.”

“It’s all because of the water spirit.” Murmured a civilian. Rose and Edna looked to Mikleo.

“I was on top of a mountain- oh you’re just giving me a hard time.” Said Mikleo.

“I’m just doing this to appease the Edna.” Rose muttered, followed by Edna jabbing her in the side. “Ow!”

“Hey stop spewing nonsense!” A soldier snapped at the civilian.

“He’s actually pretty right you know.” Said Rose. “I’ve ran into this water spirit a few times I can confirm this.”

“Weren’t you that nut job at the festival?” A different civilian asked.

“Hey! I just took the sword and ran, it’s back in the sanctuary.” Said Rose. “And I’m the Shepherd, I deal with supernatural bullshit all the time! I got this!”

“Uh huh. Right.” Said the soldier that was talking to Sergei.

“Well so much for trying to inflate your ego.” Said Edna twirling her umbrella. Rose glared at her.

“Don’t worry, like I said I got this, but you guys should still evacuate the area.” Said Rose.

“Well at least she has some reason to her.” Said a civilian.

“I heard that!” Said Rose. Just then they (as in Rose, Sergei, Mikleo, and Edna) heard a shriek and the Oroboros came out of the water once again. To everyone else it was one vicious water spout.

“Hi again.” Said Rose to the Oroboros.

“Get everyone out of here now!” Sergei ordered.

“Yes sir!” The soldiers replied. They started evacuating the area when Sergei ran to her side and drew his sword.

“Are you sure about this?” Sergei asked.

“Not really, I think we’re totally fucked regardless of if I’m sure or not to be honest.” Said Rose taking out her knives.

“Let’s get this over with.” Sighed Edna.

“Right!” Said Rose. She and Sergei charged at the Oroboros only to get their ass handed to them very quickly.

“Oh for the love of …” Edna muttered.

“Rose! Armatize!” Mikleo shouted.

“With who?” Rose shouted back.

“Whoever!”

“Um … uh … fuck … Luzrov Rulay!” Rose shouted. When she armatized she started to charge at the Oroboros.

_“No! No. Stop.”_ Said Mikleo. Rose’s body froze.

“Are you kidding?” Rose asked.

“Rose, What’s going on?” Sergei asked.

“Sergei, let’s go, we’re covering them while they figure out their shit.” Said Edna.

“All right.” Said Sergei. He ran forward while Edna casted a Seraphic arte.

_“Rose, what are you holding?”_ Mikleo asked.

“That’s a stupid question.” Said Rose.

_“Just answer it. What are you holding?”_

“A bow that we convinced you to steal.” Said Rose.

_“Now what does it do?”_ Mikleo asked.

“Shoot energy arrows whenever we’re amatized.” Said Rose.

_“Yes. With this weapon you have to use it at a distance otherwise you’re just wacking it with a glorified stick.”_ Said Mikleo.

“So you’re suggesting that I stand back.” Said Rose.

_“Stand back and shoot but yeah, we need Sergei and Edna to keep distance between it and us.”_ Said Mikleo _“That way we can be effective with what we have. After all we’re not Edna, we won’t do well up close.”_

“All right all right I got ya.” Said Rose. “Sergei, Edna, keep it as far away from us as possible!” She ordered.

“Okay!” Said Sergei.

“Hmph, she’s starting to strategize for once, not bad Meebo.” Said Edna.

_“Save it.”_ Said Mikleo as he and Rose pulled back the bow string.

“Saint’s arrow!” They both cried as they fired the energy arrow which stunned the Oroboros temporarily which left plenty of room for Sergei and Edna to bombard it with sword stabs and seraphic artes. Once the Oroboros got over its stun it glared over at Rose.

“Air pressure!” Edna shouted causing the air around the Oroboros to force it down then Rose shot at it with a couple more energy arrows at the snake while it was on the ground. The Oroboros got back up and hissed at the group. It then spiraled upwards knocking both Sergei and Edna aside.

“This is new.” Said Rose summoning another energy arrow.

“The fuck was that?” Sergei asked.

“I don’t know some sort of spiraling rising attack?” Said Edna.

_“You’re the prime lord shouldn’t you know these things?”_ Mikleo asked.

“Can it Meebo.” Said Edna. “I’m not an expert when it comes to these things.”

“Just keep it down!” Rose ordered. “Or if a certain fucking wind seraph would like to join they are more than welcome to!” And once again no hint of Dezel, or any other wind seraph for that matter, showed.

_“Why do you keep doing that when you know full well that he’s not gonna come?”_ Mikleo asked.

“Shut up, you don’t know that!” Rose snapped causing her to miss the Oroboros and nearly hit Sergei.

“Be careful with that!” He shouted.

“It’s not like I want to punch him or anything.” Said Rose pulling back the bow string summoning another arrow. “I just want to give him a piece of my mind for just running off like that and most likely having Sorey or Muse write that note for him.” She released the bowstring with the arrow hitting the Oroboros.

_“What note?”_ Said Mikleo. Rose didn’t answer she just pull back the bowstring. _“… We’re talking about this later.”_

“Fine.” Said Rose unleashing another arrow at the same time Edna and Sergei struck it. The Oroboros then whacked Edna and Sergei aside and started slithering towards her. _‘Shit shit … fuck! We need to split, we need to split!’_ Rose thought in a mantra.

“Rose!” Mikleo shouted, before she knew it she somehow found herself on the ground with the hellion in the space between her and the water seraph. “Rose! Are you okay?”

“I don’t know what just happened but I’m fine.” Said Rose dusting herself off.

“Good.” Said Mikleo going over to her and offering his hand to help her up. “Let’s try to defeat this hellion.”

“Yeah!” Said Rose. Rose charged forward jumped up and slashed down on it then stabbed into the hellion with one hand and waited for it to look at her so she threw the dagger at the hellion’s eye. Mikleo whacked the hellion’s side causing it to bend over so that Rose could retrieve her dagger from its eye. Sergei rushed forward and stabbed the hellion. It reeled back and glared at the three it started to coil up when a spire from the earth jabbed it at the side. It looked over to see Edna, now taking up the rear. It hissed at her and tried to worm around the other three but Sergei stabbed his sword into its tail preventing it from moving any more forward. “Hesphin Yulind!” Rose shouted amatizing with Edna, Mikleo backed away from the group and started using Seraphic artes. Rose knocked her fists together which caused the hovering gauntlets to sandwich the hellion. She then punched upwards which upper cut the Oroboros.

“Ice Reaver!” Mikleo shouted and a spire of ice shot from the ground and pierced through the snake. The Oroboros, started to perform another spiraling attack again.

“Sonic thrust!” Sergei shouted stabbing through the hellion, finally causing it to collapse. The group looked at the hellion. Rose’s armatus didn’t deactivate but everyone kept their weapons up to make sure the Oroboros didn’t get back up. The hellion form faded into that of a Seraph in blue robes with blue hair. They all breathed a sigh of relief as it stopped raining.

“I’m going to check in with the soldiers and civilians.” Said Sergei.

“All right.” Said Rose with the armatus now managing to get off. She then turned to Mikleo. “It’s later, we can talk.”

“Rose-” Mikleo began when they heard a moan. They looked down to the Seraph waking up.

“Hey, you okay there.” Said Rose offering her hand out.

“Uuugh … I think so …” The seraph groaned rubbing the bridge of his nose. “What happened?”

“You turned into a hellion and broke down the bridge.” Said Edna bluntly. The Seraph froze for a second. He then got up and rushed over to the river bank.

“Edna!” Mikleo scolded.

“What? There’s really no use in hiding it.” Said Edna. The three went up to the seraph.

“So … so the wrecking of the bridge was my fault?” He asked to himself. He then turned to Rose and the seraphim. “I don’t know what to say. I’m so ashamed with myself for even turning into a hellion in the first place. If you hadn’t purified me I don’t know what would’ve happened. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I was just doing my job, um …” Said Rose putting her hands behind her head.

“I am Uno, Shepherd.” Introduced the Seraph.

“Rose.” Said Rose. “Uno, in exchange for saving you, I’d like to ask for a favor.”

“That others have refused.” Edna added in glaring at Mikleo.

“Shut it.” Muttered Mikleo.

“Hm?” Said Uno.

“Can you bless Lady Lake?” Rose asked.

“Lady Lake?” Said Uno crossing his arms. “As things currently stand there …” He started.

“Fuck…” Muttered Rose.

Meanwhile with Sergei a fellow soldier ran up to him.

“Captain! Are you all right?” He asked.

“Don’t worry, I’m just fine. Plus the water spout has dispersed.” Sergei reassured.

“Well shit it looks like there’s some truth with her being the shepherd.” Said a civilian.

“Yeah, god it makes me kind of an ass for doubting that rumor that she saved someone from drowning.” Said another civilian.

“That rumor is true!” Rose shouted.

“What really happened?” Asked Mikleo.

“A slime hellion was chewing on a guy so Edna and I beat to crap out of it to have it puke up the dude.” Muttered Rose. “So we told him that he was drowning and since he was in basically the sewers he believed that he was drowning in shit water.”

“Oh.” Said Mikleo.

“You know the rain has stopped and the currents have calmed significantly.” Said a soldier.

“Damn I thought she was just some crazy bitch that sole a sword.” Said another civilian. “To think I would see an actual fucking shepherd.”

“Hey watch your mouth!” Snapped a different civilian.

“The shepherd has a really foul mouth herself.” Said Sergei. “Don’t worry about offending her.”

“You know it looked like she just cut through the water spout.” Said the Civilian that mentioned a water spirit earlier. “Doubt anyone would believe me.”

“Seriously?” Said the civilian that Rose shouted at for doubting that somewhat true rumor for saving a guy from drowning. “You’re with a bunch of people that saw her pull some crazy shit, damn at this point I’d be happy if she’d punch me.”

“Careful now, she might actually do it.” Said Sergei and the group burst out laughing. Uno looked over and smiled.

“So there are people who still believe.” Said Uno. He turned back to Rose. “Well you did get me back to my old self … very well, I’ll become the Lord of the Land for Lady Lake.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it has been a while since the last update but I've been preoccupied with school and stuff, thought I push out the next two chapters before the month is over. I also have the next chapter in the progress of being edited so you can expect that to come up in the next few days, with tonight being the earliest possible time.


	13. Blessings and Underground Plans

Chapter 13: Blessings, and underground plans

The group traveled for a couple of days until they got back from Lady Lake. They headed to the sanctuary with Uno.

“And here we are!” Announced Rose when the party entered the sanctuary. “And here’s the vessel we’ll be using.”

“Wasn’t that taken like thirty years ago?” Uno asked.

“It’s a prop.” Said Rose. “Though I don’t think it’s corrupt, I mean at worst it was sitting in some shit.”

“For the record that’s not what’s under my bed. Just spiders.” Said Sergei.

“So yeah a spider probably crawled on it, no hellionized spiders.” Said Rose.

“… All right.” Said Uno.

“Oh, I’ll go find father Breunor, I’ll be right back.” Said Sergei then rushing out of the sanctuary. Mikleo lightly tapped her shoulder.

“What?” She asked.

“We still need to have that talk.” Said Mikleo.

“Fine fine. In the back.” Said Rose. “Hey, Edna, can you get out of my body for a sec?”

“All right …” She sighed materializing in front of them. The two headed to the back of the sanctuary, slumped against a wall and sat down.

“You wanted to talk?” Said Rose.

“Yeah, can you tell me about Dezel and what happened between you two?” Mikleo asked.

“What?” Said Rose.

“I have a hunch on why you can’t turn off the Armatus.” Said Mikleo.

“All right. What is it?” Rose asked.

“First the context.” Said Mikleo.

“Whaaaaat?” Rose whined. “Oh all right. It all started when I was a baby and Dezel was four-”

“I don’t need to hear your whole life. Just around the point where you left Elysia.” Said Mikleo. Rose sighed and talked about what happened in Mabinogio ruins and how they met up with Sergei along with how the Elysians didn’t seem comfortable with him around and Mason dying soon after he left at the hands of a hellion. She then told him about the going to Lady Lake and finding Mason’s murderer only for Dezel to turn into a hellion himself after being knocked into the lake and the Scattered Bones interfering. Then her becoming the Shepherd to save Dezel and three days later while she was talking to Muse, Dezel just left with a note, with her suspecting that Sorey was the writer of the note since him having resonance was blatantly obvious when he responded to Dezel to lying about getting arrested and the guy can’t lie worth of shit.

“And that’s basically what happened.” Said Rose. “So what do you think is the reason I can’t turn off the armatus, minus that time at Flakewin.”

“I think you’re still hung up over Dezel and it’s affecting you.” Said Mikleo.

“Pf, yeah right.” Said Rose.

“Seriously.” Said Mikleo. “You’re still mad at the guy for leaving because he’s the reason you became the Shepherd otherwise, someone else would’ve pulled out the prop blade, have Edna as a Prime Lord and honestly neither of us would be here.”

“Not true.” Said Rose. “I would’ve became the Shepherd anyway if Dezel wasn’t in trouble.”

“Really?” Said Mikleo crossing his arms. “How so?”

“Well we originally came here to look for Sergei to make sure he wouldn’t get killed by a hellion. If Dezel hadn’t fallen in the lake, we probably still would’ve gotten our asses saved and we would’ve made sure Sergei was all right by going to the sanctuary.” Said Rose.

“And then what?”

“And then … and then … I don’t know wait for some hellions to disrupt the festival which would give me the chance to talk to Edna and then grab the blade.”

“And what if that didn’t happen?”

“Um well … I don’t know.”

“Exactly.” Said Mikleo.

“The hell does that mean?” Asked Rose.

“If there was no one in danger there would be no reason for you to become the Shepherd. Whether it’s Dezel, Sergei or some random bystander.” Said Mikleo.

“I’m not that nice!” Rose snapped.

“Okay, correction, someone you know and care about, cuz that bystander can just go die in a ditch. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here talking about you being unable to take off the armatus.” Said Mikleo.

“I’m pretty sure it’s because I’m not strong enough yet.” Rose insisted.

“Rose you’ve been the Shepherd for like two … three weeks? You learned how to use mine and Edna’s powers in a short amount of time and you still can’t take off the Armatus at will minus that one time at Flakewin.” Said Mikleo. “What happened there anyway?”

“I dunno, I was freaked out and was thinking that we need to split and before I knew it I found myself on the ground and we were separated.” Said Rose.

“… Of course.” He sighed. “The one time you stopped thinking about being mad at Dezel you were able to deactivate the armatus.”

“I don’t do that!” Rose claimed.

“Sure.” Said Mikleo. “Try not thinking about Dezel while you’re armatized.”

“I told you I-” Rose started.

“Rose? I got father Bruenor.” They heard Sergei.

“Coming.” She said. They found Edna standing nearby.

“Thank god, that conversation was going in circles.” She said.

“Edna! We needed some time alone!” Mikleo shouted.

“You two are loud. It’s kind of hard not to ignore Meebo.” Said Edna. “And Rose, I’d listen to Meebo.”

“The sky doesn’t seem like it’s falling and pigs aren’t flying.” Said Mikleo. Edna growled and jabbed his back with her umbrella. “Ow!” He cried. They went to Sergei accompanied by a hybrid between middle age and elderly of a man with short brown hair, wearing glasses and a priest’s uniform.

“Pardon me, but are you the Shepherd that Sergei’s been talking about?” He asked.

“Act like you have some tact.” Said Edna whacking her butt with her umbrella, Rose momentarily cringed.

“Yes.” Said Rose. “And you must be Father Bruenor, I’ve heard great things about you.”

“I’m sure I’ve got nothing on you, the woman that quelled the storm and the river by Griflet bridge.” Said Bruenor.

“Boy word spreads fast.” Rose muttered under her breath before clearing her throat. “However things like that can only get us so far in these times of chaos, we also need the hopes and prayers of the people to help as well. Which is why I’m asking you to pray for a new seraph for this sanctuary.”

“I’m afraid I’m unworthy for such a task.”

“He can’t sense us but I think he’s sincere enough.” Said Uno. “He’ll do.”

“Please father Bruenor, don’t be so modest. The seraph says you’re a good man and would be happy to have you pray for him.” Said Rose.

“… Very well.” Said Father Bruenor.

“Uno, if you would please.” Said Rose gesturing to the sword. Uno nodded and became a light, similar to Edna and Mikleo when they go into her body, and went into the prop sword. A wave of energy passed through them and just the pressure in Rose’s chest subsided.

“What was that?” Sergei asked.

“That was the blessing returning to the town.” Said Edna. Uno came out of the sword.

“Ladylake and the surrounding area has become my domain.” He said. “It’ll need to be maintained via purifying of any stray hellions in town or through prayer and offerings.” He then flinched.

“Something wrong?” Rose asked.

“I still feel some malevolence coming from over there.” He said pointing to somewhere.

“Uh … Sergei what’s that way?” Rose asked pointing in the same direction as Uno.

“That’s the palace.” Said Sergei.

“… Of course.” Said Edna.

“What?” Said Rose.

“Politicians are corrupt bastards so it’s no surprise that there would be tons of malevolence from the palace cuz that’s where they live.” Said Edna.

“Well at least most of the malevolence is gone, how about we crash at the inn.” Said Rose.

“Shepherd-” Bruenor started.

“Just call me Rose.” Said Rose.

“Rose. Thank you so much for trying to help our city.” He said.

“It’s no problem.” Said Rose. She and the party left the sanctuary. As soon as she did so she felt a sudden surge of malevolence. “Who are you? Show yourself!” She shouted. A hooded figure stepped out of the shadows. Rose couldn’t make out any features.

“So. You think you restored the blessing in one town you think you can just leave and be on your merry way to fuck knows where?” A feminine voice asked. “You’re honestly more of a screw up than I thought.”

“Who are you calling-” Sergei started but Rose stopped him.

“I appreciate it but you should be quiet.” Said Rose. She then turned to the hooded figure. “I’m not going to leave the city just yet there’s still you and the malevolence at the palace. If I leave those two things alone they’ll become bigger problems.”

“Hmph, something a little stupid girl would say.” Said the figure.

“Hold up, now what the does that mean?” Rose asked becoming defensive.

“You’ll find out. Or someone will just up and tell you.” The figure then left without a word.

“What a bitch.” Rose muttered.

“They’re most likely the hellion form of a disillusioned person that’s lost faith in the shepherd.” Said Edna. “If we run into them again, purify them.”

“Yeah, I know.”

At the inn Rose laid back on the bed.

“So what are we gonna do about the palace?” She asked.

“You apparently have connections with the scattered bones right? Why don’t you ask your friends to help you break in?” Edna suggested.

“We’re not friends.” Said Rose. “Plus the palace is where the royal family and some politicians are so it’s gonna be heavily guarded.”

“You know some of my superiors are at the palace.” Said Sergei. “We could just go in and ask to talk to one of my superiors while the seraphim look for the malevolence.”

“Yeah let us go while we have no ways to communicate to each other so we can’t tell you we’re in a pinch.” Said Edna.

“Well it is honestly the best option, though we could try to sneak off on our own.” Said Rose.

“No, you can’t.” Said Sergei. “It’s a bit of a policy that guests to the palace are watched and followed at all times.”

“All right, so Edna and Mikleo are gonna look for the source of malevolence while we hang back. Sound good?” Said Rose.

“Yeah.” Said Sergei.

“All right, we got that down, Sergei do you need to see your superiors any time soon?” Rose asked.

“No … not for a while but I think I can try to pull some strings. Just give me three days.” Said Sergei.

“Really, you can get us into the palace in that short amount of time?” Asked Edna.

“That’s short?” Said Rose.

“By comparison.” Said Mikleo. “I hear appointments inside political facilities take longer than that to arrange normally.”

“Yeah, don’t worry.” Said Sergei.

“Any idea on what we should do for three days?” Rose asked.

“I dunno, help people, kill prickle boars and illegally sell them, draw on Mikleo’s face-” Edna listed off.

“No.” Mikleo interrupted. “If you’re bored the Sparks might still be in town due to Griflet bridge collapsing, so you could try to hang out with them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Said Rose.

A couple days passed. While Sergei was trying to get a word in with his superiors at the palace Rose was keeping herself occupied through feeding stray dogs and by somewhat babysitting some kids which was making sure that the kids didn’t get near the waterwheel. And for the first time in a while she ran into the Sparks again. She bummed around them for a little while and finally learned some of the other member’s names; Eguille, Rosh, Felice and Talfryn Ayn, Mupvet, Sefna, Ivj, and Bari. She managed to lean things like; Felice and Talfryn are twins (though it’s obvious), Eguille is currently Muse’s right hand man but they’re training Sorey, Rosh, and the twins to take the job(s) in case either or both of them die, and Mupvet is a man whore with at least three illegitimate children. Also with the bridge down they’re gonna be stuck in Lady Lake for a while longer. Then she ran into Sorey.

“Hey what’s up?” She said. “You doin’ better?”

“Yeah, I’ve been fine for the last few days. Can you tell-” Said Sorey.

“Tell Mikleo yourself I know damn well you can see seraphim.” Said Rose.

“Wha-uh-um… how did you know?” He asked.

“Let’s see you reacted to Dezel when he said that you lied about not getting arrested, you reacted to Edna talking and making a joke about me, and you fell in love at first fucking sight with the seraph that healed you. Not to mentioned that when I visited you I had a talk with Zenrus before hand and he said that he raised, slash, is raising you.” Rose listed. Sorey’s face turned red.

“I-I did … not fall in love at first sight with that really pretty Seraph!” Sorey claimed.

“Yeah you’re not helping yourself.” Said Rose. “Hey Mikleo can you come out?”

 _“Okay.”_ He said. He appeared in between her and Sorey, startling the latter.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” Said Rose. There was a long awkward  pause. “Well go on.”

“Oh! Um … thank you … thank you so much for using your artes to have me recover faster.” Said Sorey.

“It’s probably nothing, I’m sure Zenrus and that medicine did more than I did.” Said Mikleo.

“No, that stuff has been doing the same thing for years, while you didn’t cure me by any means you still shortened my time in bed and I managed to get a lot done with that extra time including finding and exploring some entrances through the aqueducts.” Said Sorey.

“What? Really? Where?” Mikleo exclaimed his eyes lighting up.

“Oh no …” Muttered Rose.

 _“Oh boy.”_ Sighed Edna. Sorey smiled and excitedly pulled out a piece of parchment that contained a very rough outline of the city of Lady Lake with squiggles and lines drawn everywhere inside it. X’s and sloppy labels were scattered throughout the rough map.

“What the hell are we looking at?” Said Rose.

“A map of the aqueducts.” Said Sorey bluntly. “Okay, this one is the main obvious entrance, leads to a dead end because it’s sealed. It’s also close to the area where you saved that drowning man.”

“Yes, we know this.” Said Rose bluntly.

“I don’t, I wasn’t there.” Said Mikleo.

“Now now, don’t start fighting you two.” Said Sorey. He pointed to one of the X’s. “This one is behind the sanctuary and it’s actually a trap door that’s only triggered by a switch. And this one leads into the kitchen of the palace.”

“Wait, you’ve been to the palace?” Said Mikleo.

“Only took a peek.” Said Sorey “I think that was created so you can have high ranking officials and royalty evacuate quickly in case there was a disaster like an enemy overrunning the place or a dragon attack.”

“Did you get caught?” Rose asked.

“No.” Said Sorey.

 _“The guards are either super stupid or he’s just lucky.”_ Edna commented.

“Huh, thought that would be heavily guarded.” Said Mikleo “Carry on.”

“This one on the north eastern part of town is a fun one because it’s underwater and I do not recommend this other one because it leads to the inn’s piping. Unless you’re insanely flexible, and impossibly thin for that matter, you’re not gonna get out of the toilet. Believe me I tried.” Said Sorey. Mikleo game him a look that was a mix of shock, disgust, confusion, and impressed.

“… Lovely.” He said.

“I don’t recommend these two entrances neither, because they lead into cellars of homes and you need to be a one sneaky bastard to get out. Though this one leads into an abandoned building though I think the building might be used for back alley medical procedures. Or a minor cult trying to summon some sort of arch lich, either way there’s a lot of blood in there.” He continued. “Those are all the entrances I managed to find.”

“Again, lovely.” Said Mikleo.

“Some of the entrances you mentioned, why did they build houses over them?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know my best guess is that the old town got toppled over and the current Lady Lake got built on top of it.” Said Sorey.

“Unlikely.” Said Mikleo. “It’s more like the current Lady Lake came about via tearing down some old buildings that were in disuse and with population growth they needed more room for housing so they built some buildings over entrances to the old aqueducts.”

“That would be the case if Lady Lake had enough housing for its citizens but as it stands-” Sorey began to argue.

“I think that’s enough, let’s go Mikleo.” Said Rose grabbing Mikleo by the collar of his shirt and dragging him away.

 _“Oh thank god.”_ Said Edna.

“Wait we might need that map!” Mikleo shouted.

“Just take it!” Sorey shouted throwing the map with it landing very short of Mikleo’s reach and onto the ground.

“Edna … pick that up.” Rose ordered.

_“You have a Meebo to do that for you.”_

“No, he’ll run back to argue with Sorey on why they built on top of aqueduct entrances.” Said Rose.

“No I won’t.” Mikleo pouted.

 _“All right, fine.”_ Said Edna. She got out of Rose’s body then picked up the map and handed it back to Rose who stuffed it in a pouch hanging off her belt.

When they headed back to the inn they were staring at the map Sorey threw at them.

“So you two can just walk on in through the kitchen entrance since as I recall the malevolence was stronger underground so we might find some powerful hellion there.” Said Rose.

“We’ll take a look there after we look around the palace cuz I suspect that there might be some malevolence that lurks within the palace, especially with some of the politicians.” Said Mikleo.

“I have that in mind, if you two run into something dangerous get out of there and get back to me.” Said Rose.

“We know that since we kind of need you as a conduit to purify hellions.” Said Edna. “Plus if we have to purify humans, especially in this setting it might end up being an interesting learning curve.”

“How so?” Rose asked.

“For one, if you do what you have been doing with hellions which is attack willy nilly you could get yourself arrested.” Said Edna. “However purifying hellions requires physical contact, so…”

“I need to do it without looking like a serial killer or just fucking creepy.” Said Rose.

“Pretty much.” Said Edna.

“Great. Now all we have to do is wait for Sergei.” Said Rose.

“What should we do if Sergei doesn’t get any approval to get into the palace?” Mikleo asked.

“If that doesn’t work I’m thinking we should sneak through the underwater entrance and try to look for the source of malevolence from underground and use the palace kitchen’s entrance if we find nothing in the aqueducts.” Said Rose. “So Mikleo when it comes to that we should have the spectral cloak ready.”

“Fine by me.” Said Mikleo. “Though what if we get caught?”

“I’m kind of hoping that won’t happen cuz well we’d be invisible to them and if worse comes to worse we’ll use the same entrance we came through. I doubt they would know about the entrance in the north eastern part due to it being well underwater.”

“What about the entrance in the abandoned building?” Mikleo asked “I mean obviously if worse comes to worse we can’t use the town’s main aqueduct entrance or the palace and the ones that are in the cellars of some homes cuz those would be guarded. If we took the underwater entrance you need sneak through town without looking suspiciously wet. That building could be a place we could hide in until things calm down a little.”

“That could work, if worse comes to worse, which I hope it never comes to. And we could hide back in the entrance in case palace guards come looking there.” Said Rose. Just as Rose said that Sergei came into the room. “That was sooner than expected.”

“Well with the stuff that happened at Falkewin I managed to get us into the palace. We an audience with the general as well as the council.” Said Sergei.

“Why the sudden interest?” Rose asked raising an eyebrow.

“I’m guessing it’s because what you did at Falkewin.” Said Edna “Someone that’s able to tear down a waterspout and clear the rain is bound to gain the attention of the higher ups there’s no question that the council would want to use you as a weapon.”

“Well since you two will be looking around I just might have to play dumb in front of the council.” Said Rose.

“Good plan.” Said Mikleo. “When are they expecting you two?”

“Tomorrow evening.” Said Sergei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I know I said in a few days but ... real life man. Three studio classes and a philosophy class can leave your hands tied for a bit. But so begins Rose's part time job as wing man and the close of the Lady Lake arc.


	14. Roundtable Palace

Chapter 14: Roundtable Palace

The next evening Rose and Sergei walked through the noble’s district to the palace.

“You know I’ve never been here before,” Said Rose “do I look at least somewhat respectable, cuz well this is all I have.”

“I’m sure you look fine.” Said Sergei. “After all common clothes are rare exotics to nobles.” He joked. Rose snickered.

“Too high up in their ivory towers to know they’re the weird ones?” Rose joked back.

“Yep.” Said Sergei.

 _“Focus you two.”_ Said Mikleo.

“All right fine.” Said Rose. The two approached the palace where two soldiers stood guard and a butler waited for them upfront.

“Welcome, Captain Strelka, Shepherd, unfortunately chancellor Bartlow is busy at the moment, if you would follow me please.” He said. They nodded and followed.

“You two split.” Rose whispered to the Seraphim once they got into the palace. Rose and Sergei were lead into a room with a bookshelf and were told to wait there.

“So when will the Seraphim return?” Sergei asked.

“Who knows.” Said Rose pulling out a book labeled _Mad Screams of Love_ and slumping back in a chair. “We have to wait.” Meanwhile with Edna and Mikleo,

“I’ll check the upper floor while you check the lower floors.” She ordered.

“Doesn’t that include the aqueduct?” Mikleo asked.

“Yes.” Said Edna.

“You do realize that I’m going to ogle the architecture of the ruins for a few hours.” Said Mikleo.

“Fine then, we’re not splitting up, let’s just start from the top floors and work our way down.” Said Edna.

“Fine by me.” Said Mikleo. The two walked up to the upper floors of the palace where it seems like the royal family sleeps, they quickly investigated each room and if there were people in any of the rooms they tried to determine if malevolence was coming from them but they ended up concluding that the source of the malevolence was further down so they did the same thing with the next floor and the floor after that until they got to the main floor just as Rose and Sergei were going to see the council. They snuck into the council room just as the doors were closing behind them they split up and searched the room and investigated the council. Rose and Sergei saw them and pretended they weren’t there as reacting to the seraphim in the room would’ve made their plan to have Rose play dumb in front of the council blow up in smoke.

“Welcome, Captain Strelka, Shepherd,” Said an elderly man in fancy clothing with chin length grey hair. “I am Lord Bartlow, the king’s right hand, this is Military Chancellor Mathia, leader of the royal army which I’m sure you’re familiar with Captain Strelka.” Sergei nodded, Bartlow continued, “This is professor Simon, Hyland’s law administrator and this is Archbishop Nathael, the Kingdom’s highest ranking holy man.”

“I am Rose, thank you for the invitation.” Said Rose.

“Please, take a seat.” Said Bartlow, Rose took the seat across from Bartlow while Sergei took the seat next to her.

“Now if eye witnesses are correct you two were seen at Falkewin hillside and made the river there calm down and stopped the rain.” Said Mathia.

“That’s an over exaggeration. We just saw this waterspout come up and since it was going to hurt some of the civilians we just protected them. Everything else must be through the will of the Seraphim.” Said Rose.

“I’m not getting anything from them.” Said Edna.

“That leaves the Aqueduct.” Said Mikleo. The two started to leave.

“If I may ask what were you two doing in the area?” Simon asked.

“I was just looking for a friend of mine when I ran into Sergei.” Said Rose.

“Yes, I asked her for some help with Falkewin and she agreed to come along.” Said Sergei. “We just happened to arrive at the right place at the right time.”

“If I may ask what is your relationship?” Bartlow asked.

“We’re just friends.” Said Rose. “I helped him out and he helped me out, no more no less.”

“Is that all?” Bartlow asked.

“Yes. No more. No less.” Rose insisted. The seraphim opened the door behind them and closed it, the councilmen looked around as well as Rose and Sergei. “The fuck was that?” She said.

“So, Strelka, what is the real story? Is she really the shepherd or just a fraud in a stupid outfit that the people are starting to believe in?” Said Bartlow.

“Either way what will you do about it, kill me?” Asked Sergei.

“We both know that would be far too risky. Since you and your brother were born into a family of commoners the people will riot if one of their representatives in the knights got suddenly executed. But we also can’t have the people siding with the Shepherd for easy salvation.” Said Nathael.

“After all the common man is nothing more than a fool. It is an unfortunate observation but it is reality.” Said Bartlow.

“You know I heard somewhere that the one whom calls others fools is a fool himself.” Said Rose. Sergei shot her a dangerous look.

“I’d watch your mouth in our presence girl.” Snapped Bartlow

“Excuse me, I am a woman.” Said Rose. “And I would say the same for you cuz I can very well destroy you.”

“Rose what the hell are you doing?” Sergei whispered.

“Oh? And how can you do that?” Bartlow asked.

“I have connections.” Said Rose, “And I have my ways.”

“If that’s the case Shepherd Rose why not side with us. You can still keep your connections you’ll just be helping us boost the people’s morale.” Said Barlow.

“So you want me to cover for you while you continue to use faulty policies to take care of things like your drug problem?” Rose asked.

“Faulty is a harsh way to put it but yes we would like you to do that.” Said Barlow.

“What would happen with Sergei?” Rose asked.

“He’d be sent back to his hometown Marlind to help with the epidemic. Though we do wish you the best of luck Captain.” Said Mathia with his later statement being sarcastic.

“Very well.” Said Sergei.

“Boris, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” They heard a soldier shout. The doors busted open with Boris stomping through.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing with my brother Bartlow?!” He shouted.

“Boris, what are you doing?!” Sergei questioned.

“I refuse to stand by and let these fucks take away the family I have left!” He shouted. He draws his sword and steps forward.

“Boris, don’t!” Sergei shouted running towards him. Boris pushed him aside and continued charging at the chancellors. Rose got up and ran after Boris. Boris nearly thrusted his blade at Bartlow but Rose got in between them and shoved Bartlow down and took out one of her daggers and blocked Boris’s attack.

“Hey now! Don’t go attacking shitty politicians.” Said Rose. She turned to the chancellors, “No offense.”

“Taken.” Said Bartlow.

“That man has paved the way for my mother to die, he calls the common people ignorant fools while he steals from them, he cares nothing for our poorest and most vulnerable, and worst of all he intends to kill my brother through the disease that’s infested our home.” Said Boris removing his blade. “Such a man doesn’t deserve to live!” He swung his blade again but Rose drew her second dagger and crossed her blades catching Boris’s sword before it could imbed itself into Barlow’s skull. “Move!”

“No!” Rose refused. Other soldiers were about to step in when Sergei stood in front of them.

“Wait!” He ordered.

“Move!” Boris repeated.

“No, if I do your brother will be hurt from this.” Said Rose. Boris froze. “Think about it, if I move and you split this piece of shit in half think about what this will do to your brother? Once you’re inevitably executed for treason your brother will end up suffering for your sins.

“He will be ridiculed, he’ll lose his position and respect, everything he worked for will be taken away from him and he’ll die alone and unloved all because you decided to murder the man that sent him to a plague town.” Boris put his sword back in its sheath. Sergei signaled the other guards to grab him.

“I’m sorry.” He said. Other guards swarmed him and took him away.

“With all due respect chancellors I’m not going to stay in Lady Lake for much longer. I just have one last errand to do then I’m going to head back to the mountains and never bother you again.” Said Rose.

“Such a shame. But very well.” Said Bartlow.

“It’s for the best.” Rose assured.

“Fine. You two may go.” Said Barlow. When the two left the palace, and by extension the noble’s district Rose felt the seraphim.

“What’s up?” She asked.

 _“Under the palace is a prison where they let people who’ve committed minor crimes, and powder addicts die.”_ Said Mikleo. _“A lot of them are severely malnourished and some of the more recent additions are apparently suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Their malevolence feeds a hellion that’s further down.”_

“Thank you.” Said Rose. “Do you think releasing them will cut off some of that hellion’s food supply?”

 _“Likely.”_ Said Edna.

“Great, then we’re going through with the plan where we go through the northeastern entrance?” Rose asked.

 _“Yeah.”_ Said Edna.

 _“Wait, what are you gonna do about the prisoners when you release them?”_ Mikleo asked.

“Well we need to head back to the inn cuz well we’re already half way there, and we don’t want some people to listen in.” Said Rose.

 _“… All right.”_ Said Mikleo.

“I guess that’s where we’re gonna part, I’m going back to the barracks.” Said Sergei.

 _“All right what happened? Your squire’s been quiet since we got back.”_ Said Edna.

“Well Sergei’s brother busted in on our meeting and tried to kill one of the chancellors and I stopped him and some other soldiers arrested him.” Said Rose. “So I’m guessing he’s still shocked over the whole thing and it might be a reason why he might not be with us.”

 _“Fine.”_ Said Edna.

When they got back to the inn they started to go further in depth with the prison break plan.

“I really think it’s a bad idea to go back the way we came in.” Said Mikleo. “For one we might get caught when someone spots a lot of people getting out of the lake, and some of them are so weak that they’ll die if we try to get them to swim.”

“For a Seraph you care too much about the well being of humans.” Said Edna.

“What does that mean?” Mikleo snapped.

“He is right though.” Said Rose. “Depending on the time they’ve been thrown in some of the prisoners will be stronger than others. Honestly the safest bet is the abandoned building and we can hope that there isn’t some obscure cult using it. And for the next few days we and the healthier people will sneak in food.”

“Very illegal and risky, you wanna go through with this?” Asked Edna.

“Yeah.” Said Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of this ending to the Lady Lake arc. Where Rose insults a politician like it wouldn't bite her in the ass and Boris may be just a liiiiiittle too crazy about his brother.


	15. The Vivia Aqueduct and Prison

Chapter 15: The Vivia Aqueduct and Prison

In the dead night Rose snuck into the north eastern area of Lady Lake avoiding any soldiers that were on patrol she heard something behind her so she turned her head to see Sergei in a simple shirt and pants. “Sergei?” She whispered.

“I’m going to help you.” Sergei whispered back. “I’m certain that I put some of those people in that prison and I figure that regardless of what I do they’ll hate me, but just letting the Shepherd take care of my country’s problems while I stand by is something that I can’t do.”

“All right. I’ll hold you to your word and don’t go running off if you feel uncomfortable.” Said Rose.

“I’ve never run from anything in my life why would I start now?” Said Sergei.

_“Let’s go. We don’t have much time before a soldier searches here.”_ Said Mikleo. The two nodded and jumped into the lake. In the water Rose signaled that they split up and search for the entrance. Sergei agreed and they split. The two searched up and down the underwater portion of the lake only coming back up to get air until Rose found a hole big enough to fit in two people. Mikleo came out, she looked over to him and signaled to get Sergei. Mikleo swam over to where Sergei was and pulled him along. They went through the hole and resurfaced into the aqueducts, in a section not filled with sewage.

“Let’s try to get to the entrance to the abandoned building. Does that sound good?” Rose asked.

“Yeah.” Said Sergei. They got out of the water onto a platform. Rose took out the miraculously undamaged map and they started walking the sewers in the direction the abandoned building would be. They ran into a dead end in the form of water.

“Hey Edna do you think we could-” Rose started.

“No.” Said Mikleo.

“I’m not even done.” Said Rose.

“I have an idea of what you were gonna say ‘Hey Edna can you destroy part of the architecture and possibly make a lot of noise to make a bridge to get across?’ Did I get it?” Said Mikleo.

“Close except I didn’t even consider the noise.” Said Rose. “If you’re so protective over these ruins would you do the honors and make an ice bridge even if it ends up being temporary?”

“All right.” Said Mikleo, he put his hand on the water and froze a strip of water, just barely wide enough to walk on, into ice. “I’m not sure how long this’ll hold.”

“All right, get back in.” Rose ordered. Mikleo nodded and turned into energy going back into Rose’s body. Rose and Sergei then ran across the ice bridge which managed to last for a good while before melting back into water. They got to the area where the map said the abandoned building should be with a rock slab with jags in it leading up to the hole. Rose went ahead and climbed up the rock wall to the top and reached into the hole in the ceiling. She felt wooden boards. She stabled herself on the wall and pushed up on the floor boards popping them loose.  She then pushed them to the side then climbed up to poke her head out. It was still very dark with traces of moonlight peering through boarded up windows and cracks in the walls. She examined the room and noticed the dark patches across the floor and on some of the walls. She saw glimpses of dark red with the small amount of moonlight. She looked around a little more to see if there were any distinguishing marks on any of the other walls or the ceiling but they were pitch black. She slid the floorboards back over the hole and climbed down.

“What’s you see?” Sergei asked.

“Well it is abandoned and there is blood on some of the walls.” Said Rose.

“Blood?!” Sergei exclaimed.

“I’m thinking that it either was a cult, a back alley medical procedure, or a murder.” Said Rose.

“How the hell are you so calm about this?” Sergei asked.

“I hunt shit, plus I’ve actually seen quite a lot of blood the whole time I’ve been alive.” Said Rose.

“…Okay …” Said Sergei.

_“I’m doubting it’s a murder.”_ Said Edna. _“Murder scenes usually leave malevolence from the victim. I’m thinking cult is the most likely candidate, just due to cult ritual grounds have very little malevolence even though there’s blood everywhere from whatever the fuck they’re doing.”_

_“Either that or the source of malevolence has been purified about 30 years ago or has simply moved on.”_ Said Mikleo.

“Either way we’ll be fine.” Rose assured. “We’ll take the prisoner’s here and try to have them wait for a while.”

“All right, let’s go.” Said Sergei. The group walked further into the aqueducts making bridges along the way. Meanwhile Rose’s vision in her right eye started to blur. She closed her eye and rubbed it but it was still blurry. Sergei grabbed her shoulder. “Hey, I think there’s something up there.” He said. She turned her head to see something sparkly above them. She went up to the wall and started climbing up it. “Rose!” Sergei tried to stop her by grabbing her shoulder but she pushed it off and climbed up the wall anyway. When she got to the shiny she found an orange orb. She picked it up.

“Sergei, catch!” She said tossing it down to him he fumbled with the orb almost dropping it but catching it in the end. She jumped down.

“Another Iris gem?” Said Sergei.

“Yeah, but let’s not look at it now.” Said Rose taking the gem from Sergei and pocketing it. So they continued to follow the map to where the Palace’s kitchen entrance, and the underground prison would be, with Mikleo occasionally making ice bridges. Slowly but surely an awful odor hit their nostrils.

_“We’re getting close.”_ Said Edna. As they went further in the smell kept getting stronger that Rose and Sergei’s eyes started to water and they had a difficult time trying not to gag. They also started hearing voices coughing, retching, groaning, and cursing the royal family and everything they stood for and the malevolence became thicker that it would’ve been difficult to breathe if she came down there a week ago. They approached the prison through another ice bridge and saw the chamber of filth, death and rot that lay just below the palace. In fact it is a wonder that the palace doesn’t stink.

“Mikleo, Edna, how many people can you heal at a time?” Rose asked as the two seraphim came out.

“… Only one at a time.” Said Mikleo.

“About … 5 at a time.” Said Edna. Rose rubbed her chin.

“Sergei, you break out the prisoners and protect Edna from any hellions that may attack her, Edna, you heal them.” Said Rose. “Oh and tell them something comforting about the Shepherd.”

“What about you?” Sergei asked.

“Mikleo and I will investigate further down to find the big hellion.” Said Rose.

“Lucky bastard.” Edna mumbled.

“This way.” Said Mikleo guiding Rose to where the hellion would be. They walked further taking care of other hellions along the way until they approached a slimy fish looking hellion supporting its weight on two tentacles in the front of its body with a single eye and a mouth that contained rows and rows of teeth. Ooze dripped off its body leaving sticky masses on the floor which got smeared as the creature moved towards them.

“That’s it isn’t it?” Said Rose.

“Yep.” Said Mikleo.

“What is it?” Rose asked.

“An aboleth.” Said Mikleo. The aboleth wormed up to them then started wheezing and hacking until it threw up a ball of some mucous substance. The two tried not to cringe at the sight. The Aboleth snarled at them then whipped one of its tentacles at them.

“Luzrov Rulay!” Rose shouted. She backed up and shot an arrow at the hellion. However it didn’t seem like it had much of an effect. She shot a few more energy arrows at it but they still didn’t affect the hellion. “Hey, do you think that the slime covering it is protecting it?”

_“Think so.”_ Said Mikleo.

“Let’s try a different arte.” Said Rose.

_“Okay.”_ Said Mikleo.

“Open the floodgates!” They chanted. “Bubble arrow!” Three orbs of water surrounded them and they popped when the aboleth hit them with one of its tentacles. Rose saw that the ooze that covered its body was off that tentacle but was quickly reforming. So she lifted up the bow.

_“Rose don-!”_ Mikleo tried to warn but she jabbed one of the edges of the bow into the tentacle and the hellion shrieked in pain. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Rose what are you thinking?” Mikleo asked outside of her head, signaling her that she separated from him.

“Mikleo, use your artes, spray it, douse it, drench it, shove it into the aqueduct if you have to. I just need that ooze off so I can attack the parts you end up exposing.” Said Rose.

“Oh … though I don’t really recommend that last one cuz that’s shit water.” Said Mikleo. “Just distract it.”

“On it.” Said Rose walking over to the side. “Hey ugly! Over here!” She shouted. The aboleth looked over to her. She then threw a knife at the hellion which subsequently bounced off and landed on the ground after nearly stabbing Mikleo.

“Hey watch it!” He shouted.

“Sorry!” She shouted back. However it did the aboleth’s attention as it roared at her with strings of mucous spraying at her. “God what are you? Made of prisoner puke?” The aboleth sprung up in the air. Rose’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped before she sprinted out of the aboleth’s way as it slopped onto the ground with its face slamming straight into a wall. “Wow you’re ugly and stupid, what do you have going for you?” Meanwhile Mikleo muttered incantations to not draw any attention to himself. He even said the name of the arte quietly then water materialized out of nowhere and splashed on the aboleth washing off some of the ooze. Rose rushed forward and stabbed the hellion several times until the slime reformed around the exposed parts, however unlike the bow which might as well have left a bruise, the ooze seeped into its wounds and it wailed in pain. “You know I’m starting to feel kind of bad for you. Not only are you some manifestation of … something but the ooze that’s supposed to protect you will hurt you as well. We should finish this quickly to not to cause you any more pain.” However it went on much longer than Rose had hoped as they repeated the process multiple times the aboleth kept screaming in pain as the slime started to eat at its wounds. “For the love of God we’re trying to purify you!” Rose screamed at one point. After another splash of water Mikleo ran up to the hellion and whacked it over the head knocking it out causing the aboleth to finally be purified and the malevolence that plagued the palace’s underground faded. They went back to Sergei and Edna who were taking care of the last of the living prisoners. Rose looked around and counted fifteen of them.

“This all of them?” She asked.

“Yeah they’re all the ones that are alive. The rest are dead.” Said Sergei. “And the prison won’t be used for quite a while.” Rose looked around her to see that the prison doors were completely bent open, by likely a boulder, or Sergei apparently having super strength while some of the other cells had locks that were obviously busted. The prisoners shot her some looks, some more hopeful than others, while others whispered to each other.

“Let’s get out of here.” Said Rose. “Mikleo let’s go.”

“You sure about this?” He asked. She nodded. He then armatized with her and she froze a strip of water back the way they came. There were some gasps and mutters among the crowd.

“Well come one, let’s go before any of the guards show up and this bridge melts away.” Said Rose then walking ahead. Rose and Sergei lead the prisoners the same way they came until they got to the wall that lead up to the abandoned building. Rose deactivated the armatus and climbed up the wall again and opened the floor boards. She got out and looked around to make sure the place was untampered when she last left it. When she found that there were no changes she signaled everyone to climb up. By the time they finished Rose looked outside to see glimpses of the sky turning pinkish indicating that the sun will rise sometime soon.

“Now what?” Sergei asked.

“Now we lay low and help these people.” Said Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it's been a while but yeah I had school and stuff. However break is coming up so I should be able to have more chapters coming up then. Followed by a halt due to finals but then another break which should have me back to updating this fic weekly.


	16. Sneaking Around and Off to Marlind

Chapter 16: Sneaking Around and Off to Marlind

In the morning Rose woke up from a four hour sleep to see the seraphim up and about with Mikleo curled up in a corner reading a book and Edna peering out the boarded up window. Rose’s vision in her right eye was still blurry and it even seemed worse. She rubbed it but it didn’t help.

“Mornin’” She moaned as she continued rubbing her eye.

“Good morning.” Said Edna. Mikleo didn’t look up.

“What’re you two doing up so early?” She asked.

“We don’t need to sleep.” Said Edna.

“Lucky.” Rose muttered.

“Plus we were looking at this.” Said Edna giving Rose the Iris gem she found earlier. “It fell out of your pocket when you were asleep.” Rose took the Iris gem she went back to where she was when it started glowing in her hands.

_A young man with chin length brown hair wearing a white cloak with a pattern on it draped over one shoulder was at a camp fire with while writing into a stack of papers in his lap. A woman with long white hair and ornate dress approached him to tell him something. The man seemed to complain but the woman scolded him. He put the papers down and went to sleep. The stack of papers then turned into a book with a brown cover with golden symbols embellishing it._

“What’s so important about that book?” Rose asked.

“According to Meebo it’s the Celestial record. It’s a pretty recent and popular thing and tends to get bought out by universities and nerds.” Said Edna.

“Oh it’s that book that Sorey has referenced.” Said Rose. “Does it really have records about the people he oddly enthusiastically talked about.”

“I don’t know I’ve never read it. Ask Meebo.” Said Edna.

“Where did you get that nickname anyway?” Rose asked.

“By combining Lich boy and Mikleo.” Stated Edna. Rose looked at her then she went to Mikleo.

“Hey Mikleo, you’ve read the Celestial record right?” Rose asked, he didn’t respond.

“He’s been like that ever since we looked at the Iris gem.” Said Edna. “It’s kind of like any time we’re with Muse.”

“This time is different.” Said Mikleo not looking up from the book.

“Oh, so he speaks.” Said Edna.

“It’s just … I know the woman in the Iris gem, it’s kind of painful.” Said Mikleo.

“Is she Bahamut?” Rose asked.

“What? No!” Said Mikleo giving her a look that said “really?”

“All right all right, I was just asking.” Said Rose. “So how is that different from how you act with Muse?”

“With Muse it’s familiar.” Said Mikleo. “I’m not sure how to put it but looking at Muse brings up vague memories from when I was a little kid.” Edna raised an eyebrow at the mention that he was a little kid.

“How so?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know, it’s all very hazy but for some reason she feels very familiar to me.” Said Mikleo. They heard Sergei groan as he woke up.

“Morning sleepy head.” Said Rose.

“Mornin’.”  He groaned. “What are we gonna do about our situation?”

“Well we’re gonna have to sneak in food, medicine, and inconspicuous methods of bathing.” Said Rose.

“For how long?” Sergei asked.

“I don’t know I’m hoping for a week so no one gets too suspicious.” Said Rose.

“Oh and you need to go back to Elysia soon, huh?” Said Sergei.

“Ha! No. That was a lie I told Bartlow so I can leave.” Said Rose. “I’m likely gonna head to Marlind. Besides you have a thing there too right?”

“Well yeah, for the quarantine stuff, but why are you going?” Asked Sergei.

“Well ever since last night I’ve had a hunch that being neglected while you’re ill can cause malevolence. I mean the anger of being untreated for withdrawal symptoms fed the aboleth and created some stray hellions. I think it may be likely that well since no one has been able to get to Marlind with the rains and the bridge collapsing they’ll be like the drug addicts we broke out of prison, pissed off and pretty malevolent.”

“Yeah, and if it’s a whole town then there’s gonna be a lot.” Said Edna.

“I get … it …” Said Sergei giving her a strange look.

“What?” Said Edna.

“I can see you.” Said Sergei. Everyone was silent for a moment.

“Nice.” Said Rose nonchalantly.

“That all? Aren’t you at least a little bit shocked?” Asked Sergei.

“I kinda figure it would happen as Rose kept growing more adept to her shepherd’s powers though honestly I was thinking it would take a little bit longer but here works.” Said Edna.

“Anyway about a plan, we and some of the healthiest former prisoners go buy some food and other stuff, and trust that they don’t spend it on drugs.” Said Rose

“How about we switch clothing, and have them try to hide their faces and avoid people they or you’ve been around so neither their former dealers or authorities would get them back into trouble.” Said Sergei. “Plus the one wearing our clothes wouldn’t want to try to do anything to tarnish the names of Captain Sergei Strelka and Shepherd Rose.”

“That’s a big maybe.” Said Edna.

“Sure it might work at a distance, but up close people will tell that they’re not you two.” Said Mikleo.

“Lady Lake is a big city, I doubt everyone will know what I look like.” Said Rose.

“Okay, but you two did just break out a band of prisoners. And Sergei won’t people will be suspicious if you take an unusually long absence?” Said Mikleo.

“Shit…” Said Sergei under his breath. “I need to go. If all goes well I hope to see you at Marlind.” He got up looked through one of the cracks in the wall to see if anyone is nearby. Then he quietly went out the door. Rose meanwhile told this plan to a female prisoner around her height and exchanged clothes with her, put the hood of the shepherd’s cloak up to hide her face, and split some gald with her. She then gave similar instructions to another former prisoner with the warning to avoid the Light Sparks and any guards at all costs and if they catch them to never disclose any information about this hideout. They snuck out and went to buy food, medical supplies, and whatever else they might need then went back in a couple of hours to help with the less healthy individuals and repeated the process for a week with their funds becoming low and with one too many close calls. At the end of the week she switched back clothes with the woman and said her goodbyes to the group and apologized.

“Where are you going?” The woman asked.

“Marlind.” Said Rose.

“But we still need you.” Said another person.

“As much as I’d like to keep this up until everyone is healthy enough to leave, I really need to get to Marlind. I’m sorry but I really have to go now.” Said Rose. “Stay safe, take care of each other, and please, try not to get back in jail.”

“You will come back right?” The woman asked.

“Maybe someday.” Said Rose. When night fell she left the abandoned building and snuck through the streets of Lady Lake and quickly ducked behind corners whenever a civilian or soldier walked by.  She then went to the edge of the city right next to the lake.

 _“Are you crazy?”_ Edna asked.

“Hey, Lady Lake’s entrance is constantly guarded. This is the best way out of the city.” Rose whispered. She looked over her shoulder and slipped into the lake.  After a few hours of swimming she made it to shore and continued towards Falkewin until she got tired. After letting her clothes dry and a night’s rest she made it to Falkewin hillside where there are civilians and soldiers standing around. In the distance she saw Sergei talking to someone. She walked closer to the crowd. “Hey what’s going on here?” She asked a civilian.

“Well we’ve been trying to work on the bridge but lately it’s been for nothing.” They said. “I mean since the rains over a week ago, the islands that would’ve served as a foundation have been washed away.”

“I see and without that foundation you can’t move forward right?” Rose asked.

“Yeah, Sergei’s been talking to Neif over there to see if there are any alternative routes to Marlind but a lot of the scouts we’ve sent upstream have reported that the current is still far too strong to be able to just wade across.” Said the civilian. Rose went over to try to talk to Sergei.

 _“What are you thinking Rose?”_ Said Edna.

“Well they said that they couldn’t continue without a foundation. I was thinking of using your armatus to make a foundation of sorts.” Said Rose.

 _“And you’re thinking of running this by Sergei or something?”_ Edna asked.

“Yeah.” Said Rose. She went over to where Sergei was, close to the river’s edge and talking to an elderly man. The man noticed her before Sergei did.

“That’s a curious outfit … might you be the shepherd?” He asked.

“Rose?” Said Sergei. “Uh … did … you know what get taken care of?”

“As best as I can with a short timeline.” Said Rose.

“Sergei, is she a friend of yours?” The elderly man asked.

“Yeah.” Said Sergei.

“My name is Rose.” She introduced herself.

“I am Neif, a representative from Marlind.” He said. “Lady Rose, if you don’t mind me asking, but might you be the one who was able to calm the water spirit?”

“Yeah.” Rose confirmed.

“I can’t possibly thank you enough. However with the rock that originally held up the bridge being washed away we can’t continue to repair the bridge. But I need to get this medicine back to the other side of the river as soon as possible.” Said Neif.

“Well … I’ve been thinking of a way to help with that.” Said Rose.

“Well what is it?” Sergei asked.

“It may involve getting the help of a seraph.” Said Rose. They then heard a strange cracking sound.

“Well regardless you might have to do it soon it sounds like it will rain again.” Said Neif. Mikleo got out of Rose.

“That’s not thunder.” He said he said before running in the direction of Rayfalke.

“Ah! …” Said Rose.

“Is something wrong shepherd?” Neif asked.

“It’s nothing, I need to take care of something.” Said Rose running after the water seraph.

“Rose!” Sergei called.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally after like twelve chapters the Lady Lake arc is over!  
> Next chapter is the start of the Marlind arc which hopefully won't be as long and some characters just might return or appear in that arc.


	17. Reunions

Chapter 17: Reunions

Mikleo kept running to Rayfalke ignoring his shepherd calling after him. He blocked out his surroundings with only worry taking over his mind. When he got to Rayfalke he found a body on the trail causing him to stop.

“Mikleo what the hell has gotten into you?” Rose asked, she then turned to also see the dead body. “Well … that’s unsettling.” Edna came out of her body and walked up to the corpse.

“Hm … looks like some poor sap managed to get themself killed.” She said prodding the body.

“She’s here.” Mikleo said in a low quiet voice.

“What was that?” Rose asked. Mikleo didn’t answer but instead ran up the mountain. “Mikleo!”

“Rose, let’s leave the Meebo be for now and bury the body.” Said Edna.

“… All right.” Said Rose gritting her teeth. After burying the corpse Edna went back in her body and she started running after Mikleo. She eventually caught up to him as they passed the area where they first met him and headed towards the summit. They herd another cracking sound, Mikleo gave a small gasp and started running ahead, Rose ran after him shouting his name again. When they got to the summit they saw a large silvery pale blue dragon engaged in battle with a woman with long white hair and red tips, holding a strange looking weapon and another seraph dressed in black, with white hair and green tips.

“Son of a bitch.” Rose muttered. “Dezel?!” He snapped his head.

“Rose?!” He shouted back. “What are-” but before he could finish he dragon whacked him aside with its claw sending him flying into a boulder.

“Dezel!” Rose shouted running over to him.

“Bahamut! Stop!” Mikleo shouted.

“Mikleo get out of here!” The woman shouted. Mikleo ignored her and got closer to the dragon.

“Bahamut please, I’m all right, I’m right here!” He said trying to soothe the dragon. However the dragon merely lowered his head and snarled at the seraph and gave him a look that, to everyone but Mikleo, said: ‘I am superior to you, don’t you try to coddle me insect.’ “Please there’s no need to fight anyone. I’ll make sure these people won’t come back.” The dragon then roared in his face nearly deafening him and everyone else in the area.

“Mikleo, get out of here!” The woman repeated.

“Bahamut please no more!” Mikleo begged. “I found someone that can help you turn back. You-” Before Mikleo could finish Bahamut swatted him straight into a boulder.

“Mikleo!” Rose shouted.

“Bahamut…?” Mikleo said under his breath. _‘Do you not know my voice anymore? Are you really gone?’_ Bahamut then slammed his tail against the seraph then unleased an ice breath attack on everyone.

“We need to get out of here.” Said Rose.

“I agree.” Said the woman. “I can barely do anything about Bahamut, even with something that can help me combat malevolence.”

“Lailah …” Said Dezel.

“It’ll be fine. As long as Mikleo keeps his oath Bahamut will stay at Rayfalke.” She said.

 _“That’s nice and all but we have a seraph up close and personal with a dragon. We can’t get anywhere without him.”_ Said Edna.

“Luzrov Rulay.” Said Rose and in an instant she was armatized with him. “Now we run.” The three sprinted off the summit as Bahamut unleashed another ice breath just on their heels. When they got far enough away Rose deactivated the armatus and Edna came out of her body shortly after.

“Well that could’ve been better but it also could’ve been a lot worse.” Said Edna then turning to Mikleo. “And what the hell were you thinking Meebo? That dragon would’ve killed you if Rose hadn’t called you over.” Mikleo didn’t reply, he looked over to her then looked back to the ground. “You idiot.” She sighed giving him a light tap with her umbrella.

“Mikleo, we will purify him I promise.” Said Rose.

“… kay.” Said Mikleo. It was quiet for a long and awkward while.

“Dezel is this your friend you’ve been talking about?” Lailah asked trying to change the mood. “Oh and Edna it’s so good to see you again!”

“… Yeah … it’s good to see you too I guess. You haven’t changed much, except what are you doing with that asshole’s weapon?” Edna asked.

“Lovely weather today isn’t it?” Said Lailah.

“She does that a lot.” Said Dezel. “I think it has something to do with an oath which for the record I thought was and still is a load of crap.”

“Is it because Rose told us that you took an oath once and it completely blew up in your face?” Edna asked.

“You told her that?” Dezel growled.

“Technically them, since Sergei and Mikleo were also there.” Said Rose. “And this is what you’ve been doing for the last few weeks?”

“Well at least I’ve been productive.” Dezel huffed.

“Doing what? Trying to pry answers?”

“I’ve been training so I can keep up with you!” Dezel snapped. “I just want to be able to try to keep you out of trouble like how I used to.”

“I missed you too Dezel.” Said Rose. “But seriously we’re not children anymore. Talk to me if you’re feeling insecure over something and I’ll try to restrain myself from doing anything stupid.”

“Key word being ‘try.’” Said Edna.

“You didn’t slap me yet.” Said Dezel. Rose gave him a smug grin and patted his cheek.

“There.” She said.

“So this the friend that you fuss over Dezel?” Lailah asked.

“Yes.” Said Rose bluntly.

“I don’t fuss over her.” Dezel muttered simultaneously.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Shepherd, I’m Lailah.” Lailah introduced herself.

“Rose.” Said Rose. “Lailah you said that you can combat malevolence … how exactly?” Lailah pulled out the strange weapon, with a grim look on her face.

“It is a terrible weapon that cuts off the flow of malevolence from something or someone.” She replied.

“Huh.” Said Rose.

“However it doesn’t purify hellions, it ends up killing them.” She said.

“So why do you have it, you don’t look like you enjoy having this weapon?” Rose asked. Lailah fell silent.

“It has something to do with Eizen and Zavied doesn’t it?” Edna asked.

“That’s a very shiny rock.” She said avoiding the question once again.

“If I ask about them you’re not gonna answer are you?” Edna growled.

“That rock is pretty, in fact it rocks.” She said. Dezel coughed.

“How the hell did you put up with this?” Asked Edna pointing her umbrella towards Lailah.

“With many awkward silences.” Said Dezel.

“All that aside it seems that you really don’t have that much to worry about Dezel.” She said, the then turns to Rose. “You’re growing into a fine Shepherd.” Rose raised her eyebrows.

“Really?” She said.

“Yes, in fact at this point I’m sure the S.H.I.T.S. are proud of you, even though most of them are probably dead.”

“… Thanks?” Said Rose. She then walks over to Mikleo.

“Are you okay?” He doesn’t answer, just turns away from her. She puts her hand on his shoulder. “Listen, if taking care of Bahamut becomes too much for you, come get me okay?”

“Do whatever you want.” He said quietly. Lailah, gave a small gasp as her hand returned to her side.

“We must be on our way.” Said Lailah.

“Lailah!” Dezel called out. “I think I’m going to stay with Rose. It’s been weeks and we have a lot to catch up on.” She smiled.

“Oh all right. I hope we meet again.” She said leaving the group.

“Good to have you back Dezel.” She said patting him on the back. “So, you wanna be Edna’s sublord?”

“Eh, I don’t have a vessel, so why not.” He said.

“Great! Though you’re not gonna armatize with me unless we find some special artifact.” Said Rose.

“Does that really matter?” Dezel asked.

“It will. Isn’t that right, Mikleo?” Rose asked.

“… Yeah.” Mikleo sighed.

“Regardless, I’m doing it.” He said.

“Give me your hand.” Said Edna. Dezel lent her his hand. “Oh sacred winds … something or other … blah blah blah … give us your true name.”

“Do I have to if she knows it?” Dezel asked.

“Oh my god …” Muttered Edna raising her eyebrows. “Uh … I don’t think so ...” She turned to Rose. “Do you really know what it is?”

“I’ve been with him for all my life, of course I know. It’s Lukeim Yurlin.” Dezel then turned into a light and rematerialized a second later. Edna looked at them completely dumbfounded while seemingly experiencing some sort of revelation.

 “Okay, let’s go.” Said Dezel. The Seraphim went back into Rose’s body and she continued down the mountain. That is until one of the Scattered Bone’s assassin’s jumped out in front of her.

“Gah! What are you doing here?” She exclaimed.

“They say a Shepherd appears just before a disaster.” They said. “I’m just taking care of the problem before it gets out of hand.

 _“Uh huh.”_ Said Dezel then leaving Rose’s body and rematerializing next to her. “You know for someone that was hunky dory about helping Rose before you sure change your mind quick.”

“Dezel what are you getting at?” Rose asked.

“Also, if that really was your goal you had plenty of opportunities to kill her during the last few weeks. Hell, she may have come to you a few times.” Said Dezel, the assassin drew their blade. “I know you can see and hear me. What are you really doing here Sorey?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dezel's back after for about ten goddamn chapters. He also returned with a Lailah! As for why the hell Lailah has Sigfried I'm not telling for like another twenty chapters. Also I know I said I would update more often a few weeks ago but I kind of got sick and then it was hell week and finals. But I swear that I will try to update a bit more now I'm on break.


	18. Dagger Dagger Everywhere

Chapter 18: Dagger Dagger Everywhere

“Sorey?!” Rose exclaimed. The assassin stiffened and backed up a bit.

“It’s obvious.” Said Dezel.

 _“Obvious how exactly?”_ Edna asked.

“Well for one he is completely lying about killing you, Rose, as faint as they are since they have a body to get through the vibrations of his heart were acting differently than if he were honest, probably a big reason why he’s not talking as much.” Said Dezel

“Okay where and when the hell did you learn that?” Rose asked.

“While I was still with Lailah. She’s no wind seraph but she did give me some useful tips. Anyway, he really had several opportunities to kill you within the few weeks since he can’t really go anywhere with Griflet bridge down. Plus he deepened his voice in a way that sounds unnatural.” Explained Dezel.

“Sounds pretty natural to me.” Said Rose.

“Thank you.” Said Sorey.

“You do realize you just gave yourself away.” Said Rose.

“Dammit.” Sorey muttered.

“Hey Mikleo can you get Sorey to talk?” Rose called. Sorey stiffened and if they could see under his mask, he would be blushing. There was a very long awkward pause.

 _“Well? Are you gonna do it Meebo?”_ Edna asked.

 _“… Not now …”_ He said. Dezel gave Sorey and knowing smirk.

“Okay, how do you know?” Said Sorey.

“I can feel your body language and heartbeat through the air.” Dezel stated. “So I can tell that you have a crush on our water seraph. But in all seriousness what are you doing here?”

“Also are the Scattered Bones and the Light Sparks the same organization?” Rose asked. Sorey took off his mask rather annoyed.

“To answer that second question, yes, the Light Sparks and the Scattered Bones are the same organization. We just have some people more specialized in the merchant stuff while some are more specialized in murder stuff but most members, including myself, are in both fields.” He explained. “As for why I’m here … Muse wants to test you.”

“Does she think I’m a hapless idiot or something?” Rose asked.

“No!” Sorey exclaimed. “Well you kind of are but …”

“She knows that I still haven’t purified a human yet doesn’t she?” Rose asked.

“I doubt it, she doesn’t have anyone keeping tabs on you.” Sorey shrugged. “She never told me why she wants to test you.”

“Is this just an excuse to have someone get the ever loving shit beaten out of them because it’s funny?” Rose asked.

“No.” Said Sorey. “Though it would make sense …”

“Great ...” Said Rose drawing her blades. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Don’t hold back. Because I won’t.” Said Sorey.

“Seraphim allowed?” Rose asked.

“Only one seraph.” Said Sorey. Dezel stepped up and cracked his knuckles. Edna and Mikleo left Rose’s body and stood to the side.

“Ready to go?” Rose asked.

“Hell yeah I am.” Said Dezel whipping out his pendulums. Rose charged forward and tried to stab Sorey but he blocked her then pushed her off in time to see one of Dezel’s pendulum’s coming at him so he ducked. He then backed away from the two, took out a different knife, and threw it at Dezel, who dodged it. Rose returned the gesture by throwing one of her own knives at him. Sorey jumped back causing it to land on the ground. Rose ran forward to grab the knife but Sorey picked it up just as she got to it. She tries to cut him in the leg but he jumps out of the way.

“How about you give that back?” Dezel taunted. “Vengeant Fangs!” Sorey felt air pressure biting down on him, knocking the wind out of him. However he still held onto Rose’s knife. It took him a while to recover which gave Rose enough time to knee him in the gut and yank her knife out of his hand. Sorey quickly looked around then ducked before a pendulum could hit him in the face. Rose tried to slash and stab him several times but he blocked every one of them. He tried to back away while keeping an eye on Dezel but Rose would quickly gain ground on him and block his view of the wind seraph coming to the realization that it was a stupid idea to have a seraph fight with her. He then went for Rose’s head she gasped then crouched down and Sorey then jumped over her and sprinted for Dezel. Rose ran after him but Sorey quickly turned, drawing another dagger and throwing at her. Rose quickly stopped, dropping one of her daggers and caught the knife by the handle before it could stab her anywhere. She laughed partially out of shock and partially out of relief.

“Ha … ha … holy shit.” She then took a few deep breaths. “I’m keeping this!”

“Fine!” Sorey called back taking a stab at Dezel, who dodged the attack. Meanwhile Edna and Mikleo, primarily Edna, were making snide comments on the fight.

“Hey Meebo, do you think it would motivate him or distract him if you took off your shirt?” Edna asked.

“Distract him.” Said Mikleo. Meanwhile Sorey was having a hard time trying to hit Dezel while simultaneously fending off Rose and realized that letting her keep that dagger was a mistake as she would occasionally switch between the three knives and even if one of them was knocked out of her grasp she would still have two to spare and Dezel would quickly get the third dagger and toss it back to her. He froze just as Dezel swung a pendulum at him and Rose was about to stab him. He stepped to the side and let Dezel’s pendulum hit Rose.

“Ow! Watch where you’re swinging that thing!” Rose shouted. “I though you have control over that!”

“I do!” Dezel snapped back. “He just reacted when it was too late to change the trajectory!”

“Oh bull shit you control the wind!” Said Rose.

“Focus you two.” Mikleo reminded.

“Fine!” They snapped back and turned to Sorey.

“You’ve gotten better at keeping things far away from seraphic arte users right?” Dezel asked.

“I guess you can say that.” Said Rose.

“Good. Please keep him as far away from me as possible while I spam seraphic artes.” Said Dezel.

“I’ve been already doing that but whatever.” Said Rose.

“Keep doing it then!” Said Dezel. Rose lets Sorey pass her, she then grabs the hood on Sorey’s uniform pulling him back and slamming him on the ground. She sticks a knife in front of him but he rolls out of the way before she could stab him while accidentally inhaling a pebble. He stood up and started sputtering and coughing.

“Shouldn’t’ve done that.” He muttered to himself. He looks up and quickly dodges another stab from Rose. He blocked some of the slashes of one of her knives with his own. She then went back to virtually juggling her three knives with a shit eating grin on her face closing in on him fast making him unable to get close to Dezel and he was quickly becoming more tied. Like a cornered animal he lashed at Rose out of desperation but she kept him far from Dezel by blocking his attack. He then rammed his dagger down into the ground sending a spark of energy right into Rose’s body knocking her prone and temporarily paralyzing her. He picked up his dagger and ran towards Dezel who was casting a seraphic arte at the time. Dezel gave Sorey a shit eating grin.

“Too late.” He taunted. “Hell gate!” Two powerful gusts of wind blew through Sorey he crumpled to the ground. He tried to get up but he passed out. They waited for a few moments but he didn’t move.

“Maybe one of you guys should heal him …” Said Rose. Edna walked up to him and poked him in the face with her umbrella. They heard a groan.

“Yeah, he’s still alive.” Said Edna. “Dezel you knocked him out you heal him.” She ordered.

“Couldn’t your water seraph do it?” Dezel asked. “Aren’t they supposed to be far better at healing than wind seraphs?”

“I could but I’m staying out of this because I think healing artes from a wind seraph could help with his breathing problem.” Mikleo said bluntly.

“Wait he has breathing problems?” Said Dezel.

“Uh yeah. It’s probably one of the reasons why if Sorey wanted to kill me he couldn’t do it because he had something that fucked with his breathing and had him bedridden for a few days.” Said Rose. “Didn’t you hear something off with your inhuman ears?”

“… Now that you mention it …” Said Dezel. “Fine. I’ll do it.” Dezel muttered an incantation and performed his healing arte on Sorey. Half way through a female scattered bones member walked in and took Sorey away from Dezel. He tried to reach out but she grabbed his hand and placed it down. She began to walk off carrying Sorey on her back.

“Muse?” Said Rose, she stopped confirming her guess. “Why did you set this up?”

“To observe your strengths, weaknesses, and overall synergy you have with your seraphim companions.” She replied. “Needless to say, you do have a ways to go. And you all talk too much.”

“So why did you send in Sorey, you know, a pretty sickly kid instead of yourself?” She asked.

“I have more years with seraphim, shepherds and combat. At the point you are at right now Shepherd Rose, I could’ve easily destroyed you.” She said. Rose shivered a bit while Edna huffed thinking that Muse is too cocky.

“What are you gonna do with him?” Dezel asked.

“Have him rest and recover.” She replied. “And probably sneak in a way for him to take his medicine.” She started to walk again. Mikleo stepped forward.

“Muse!” He called. She stopped and turned to the water seraph.

“Y-yes?” She said.

“Did you start the Scattered Bones?” He asked.

“… Yes.” She answered,

“Why?” Mikleo asked. She turned away.

“… Originally … I wanted revenge on the people who took everything I loved at that point away from me.” She said.

“… Did you get it?”

“After five years … yes.”

“Then why are the Scattered Bones still around and you still running it?” Mikleo asked. She sadly laughed.

“I don’t know anymore. I really don’t know.” She said. She walked off. Rose turned to Mikleo.

“What was that?” She asked.

“… Something was nagging at me. I felt like I had to ask.” Said Mikleo. Dezel walked next to Rose.

“He’s lying.” He whispered to her. “I couldn’t tell while he was in your body but now that he’s outside his voice, his heartbeat, a lot of things indicate that there is something else to his questions. Keep an eye on him.”

“He’s not a sketchy bastard if that’s what you’re thinking.” Rose whispered back. “Even though he does seem off since Bahamut attacked him.”

“Can we please get off this mountain?” Edna asked. “I don’t know about you but I don’t want to stay with an angry dragon still roaming the mountain.”

“All right, fine let’s go.” Said Rose. “We have that bridge to help repair anyway.” The seraphim returned to her body and she walked back down the mountain keeping an eye out for Bahamut. When she returned to the bridge repair campsite she spotted the Sparks from a little bits away and she was approached by Sergei.

“What were you doing there?” He asked.

“We needed to investigate something at Rayfalke.” Rose replied.

“You do realize there’s a dragon there.” Said Sergei.

“That’s what we were investigating.” Said Rose. “We found a Dezel.”

“Dezel? Oh right … he’s your friend.” Said Sergei.

 _“You forgot I existed didn’t you?”_ Dezel asked.

“Well … I haven’t heard or seen you in weeks so … yeah …” Sergei admitted. “Anyway we haven’t made any progress on the bridge so we’re stopping for the night.”

“Excellent.” Said Rose.

“What?” Said Sergei.

“I was planning on doing something with the bridge but I don’t think I can do it in front of a crowd of people without someone going back to your soldiers and eventually your higher ups.” Said Rose.

 _“What did you do?”_ Dezel asked.

“Oh nothing bad just break a bunch of drug addicts out of jail.” Said Rose. She heard a long drawn out mix of a groan and a sigh in her head. “That’s why we should wait until everyone’s gone before we can do anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well real life's getting hectic so I figure I gotta put this up now.
> 
> Also. I kind of wanted to use the meaning of Dezel's true name in a more literal sense instead of an ironic sense like in the original game. Don't get me wrong it's still kind of ironic that he's still blind for a name that means "Dezel with unclouded eyes." The intention of Dezel becoming a lie detector is something he can "see" through deceit. And I am wondering how well it worked out.


	19. The Apothecary Away From the Diseased Town

Chapter 19: The Apothecary Away from the Diseased Town

When everybody left Rose approached the bridged.

“Hephsin Yulind.” She said under her breath. When she armatized with Edna she punched the ground fifteen minutes passed without anything happening. “Do you think we should try-” Rose started but pillars of stones rose from the currents. She then removed the armatus.

“Huh. So that’s why.” Said Sergei. “I didn’t realize you could raise the earth fifteen minutes after you punched the ground. In hind sight it would make you look like a complete loon in front of others.”

“When the hell did you get so snarky?” Rose asked.

“Well being around you and your bad ideas had something to do with it.”

“Hey most of those bad ideas worked!” Rose snapped.

 _“Besides Sergei making fun of the Shepherd for all the shit she does is our job.”_ Said Edna.

“My word!” They heard a voice say.

“Fuck!” Rose muttered as they spotted Neif as he walked up.

“N-Neif! Th-this isn’t what it looks like?” Said Sergei.

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing. So this is the power of the Shepherd.” Said Neif.

 _“Yes instant rock pillars. Just give it fifteen minutes.”_ Snarked Dezel.

“I can explain!” Claimed Sergei.

“This means Marlind is saved! Oh frabjous day!” He exclaimed.

“What?” Said Rose and Sergei simultaneously.

“I don’t know how to thank you Shepherd. My gratitude goes beyond words!” Said Neif.

“You don’t have to thank me …” Said Rose.

 _“Rose he’s a witness and you’re a moron who broke a bunch of drug addicts out of jail. Think about what you’re doing!”_ Said Dezel.

“Actually can you keep this secret between the three of us and if any other Hyland soldiers come by can you also deny that you ever saw me?” Rose asked. “I know it’s a bit much…”

“Oh! Why of course! Lady Rose you were planning to leave to avoid prying eyes any way right?” Neif asked.

“Yeah pretty much.” Said Rose. “We’re going to Marlind from here.”

“Then can you escort Captain Sergei there?” Neif asked.

“Neif?”

“Sergei, I know you tend to be busy but Marlind is your home as much as mine. And I think it would do you well to visit your father.” Said Neif.

“Does he have much time left?” Sergei asked.

“I’m not sure.” Said Neif. “But I think all of us here can rest easy knowing that one of Marlind’s prides and joys and the Shepherd are taking care of things.  Please leave the bridge to me.”

“Kay.” Said Rose.

“Understood.” Said Sergei.

 _“Honestly that went much better than I was expecting.”_ Said Dezel.

 _“It’s most likely that he understands.”_ Said Mikleo.

 _“Honestly it would’ve been funnier if he flipped the fuck out causing Rose to book it right into the river.”_ Said Edna.

“Sometimes you all drive me nuts.” Muttered Rose.

 _“We love you too.”_ Said Edna.

“By the way Neif would you happen to have any medicine and do you mind if I have some of it?” Rose asked.

“Well I do but it would be too much to ask such a thing after everything you’ve done.” Said Neif.

“It’s no problem at all. Really.” Said Rose.

“It seems like I am in debt to you once more.” Said Neif giving Rose some of the medicine.

“It’s really no trouble at all but I think we’ll be heading off now. Thank you for your help Neif.” Said Rose.

“Oh Poppycock.” Neif laughed. “It is I who should be thanking you.”

“Let’s go Sergei.” Said Rose. Sergei looked at the bridge then back to Rose.

“How?” He asked.

“Magical godly seraphy shit.” Said Rose.

“That’s fancy for you’re gonna do something stupid and hope it works isn’t it?” Sergei asked.

 _“Well you’ve made the squire’s pact I’m sure something can be done.”_ Said Edna.

“Neif thank you again. We’ll try to get to Marlind alive.” Said Sergei.

“I wish you all the best oh and stay away from the tent that has mushrooms growing around it outside of Marlind’s walls.” Warned Neif. The two walked up to the edge of the bridge. Dezel came out of Rose’s body.

“I have an idea.” He said. “Grab Sergei and jump.”

“What?!” Rose and Sergei exclaimed with the former giving him an annoyed yet worried look.

“Just … do it.” Said Dezel. Rose glared at him while grabbing Sergei by the shirt. She jumped off the bridge dragging Sergei with her.

“Lady Rose!” Neif shouted.

“Dezel! What’s this brilliant idea of yours you son of a-!” Rose shouted. She then felt a gust of wind stop her, and Sergei’s, fall and flung them up in the air with them landing on the pillar closest to the bridge. Or more accurately Rose skidded on that pillar with Sergei plummeting onto her maybe breaking a few ribs and nearly snapping her spine. “I’m okay …” She groaned. Sergei got off of her.

“Needs a little work.” Said Dezel.

“You think?” Growled Rose getting up.

“I’m sure a few more times will help a lot.” Said Dezel then going back into her body.

“Great …” Groaned Rose. They repeated the process three more times with less flying in the air and Rose getting crushed under Sergei as they went until they reach the other side of the bridge. “Thank god we made it.” Rose sighed.

 _“Though Dezel still needs to practice his thing in less hazardous areas.”_ Said Mikleo.

 _“Shut up.”_ Said Dezel.

“Let’s keep going.” Said Sergei. The two kept walking to Marlind with them ending up at Marlind’s walls at around 4 am, going off of a wild guess. But judging from the fact that it was still dark the time would be anywhere between 2 and 4 in the morning. They came across a tent that had neon blue mushrooms that smelled like formaldehyde, not that any of them would know what formaldehyde was but it still stank, and malevolence coming from it. Rose started walking towards it. “Rose! Didn’t Neif tell us to stay away from that tent?”

“There’s malevolence from the tent likely because there’s a hellion in there and it could be possible that it’s causing the plague.” Said Rose.

“… Fine …” Sighed Sergei. They approached the tent.

“Hello?” Rose called entering the inside of the tent which was lit by a couple of lanterns and there were plants being grown everywhere one of which was the grassy aloe like plant that gels were made from. To their right was a table full of vials full of various strange liquids and a mortar and pestle with the dried and empty out versions of the gel plant next to it along with some other plants. There were also plates some were covered while the plates that had a liquid in them were exposed to the air causing the tent to smell like mold and rotting organic matter. There was also a board on the table with a rolling pin next to it and white powdery bits on the board. An extra trunk lay in the corner away from the table. There was also a sheet separating the entrance to the tent from another section. “Is anyone here?” She heard a kettle boiling. “Hello?”

“I’m coming I’m coming!” They heard a deep feminine voice shout. The seraphim came out. From behind the sheet emerged a woman in a black robe hunched over with green wrinkled skin, frizzy white hair and a long crooked nose. Rose ended up bracing herself with a hand twitching for her knives while Sergei tensed up with a hand twitching to go for his sword. “Yes what is” She began then she looked over to Sergei. “You. Why I you haven’t seen in many years. To think I managed to see you all grown up even though I nearly got you and your brother killed when you two were but babes.” Sergei squinted then his eyes widened.

“Mary Jane?” He said in disbelief.

“You know her?” Rose asked.

“She was the owner of the apothecary … before it got shut down due to terrible weather for the last few years causing a shortage on the supplies she needs to keep the business running.” Sergei explained. “God what happened?”

“Like you said, my apothecary shut down and I had to resort to more illegal way to make a living which dumped me out here … and gave me this fitting form.” Said Mary Jane. “You all think so don’t you girl, seraphim?”

“Your first human Rose. What are you gonna do?” Edna asked.

“What do you look like?” Dezel asked.

“Like the green wicked witch from children’s stories.” Said Mary Jane then looking to her gnarled hands. “That’s what I can guess without a mirror.”

“Are you … are you the one causing the plague?” Rose asked. Mary Jane laughed.

“If I did then I really fucked up.” She said.

“Judging from her own description she’s a green hag, Rose. They don’t cause plagues.” Said Dezel.

“How do you know?” Rose asked.

“Lailah told me about various hellion types. The green hag was rather interesting to me.” Said Dezel. “They’re the hellion form of people, namely women, involved with medicine. They were stricken with grief and guilt over accidentally killing people they were trying to help.” Rose relaxed a tiny bit.

“How about we talk.” Said Rose.

“Very well.” Said Mary Jane. “Let me get some extra cups.” They entered the back of the tent to see nothing but a bed roll an extra trunk where Mary Jane went over and grabbed some bowls and cups with in the center of the room is a kettle with nothing indicating that there was a fire. “Well, sit down.” She said. Rose kept her eyes on the Hag as she sat down Sergei just did so not keeping any eye contact. Edna knelt down keeping her eyes on Mary Jane as well, Mikleo did the same. Dezel kept standing but crossed his arms and leaned on his right leg. Mary Jane went back to the group with the bowls and cups and put some leaves into them. She then poured hot water into the cups and bowls. Rose and Sergei looked at the cups very bewildered.

“… How?” Sergei asked.

“This form does have some perks, with access to seraphic artes and all.” Said Mary Jane.

“… Huh.” Said Sergei.

“Sit down dear seraph and have some tea.” Said Mary Jane.

“No thanks. I’m good.” Said Dezel.

“Would this tea do anything to get rid of self-loathing someone might have?” Mikleo asked.

“Hm … No I’m sure it would make it worse.” Said Mary Jane. “However I could spike it to make someone feel great for a night but they’re gonna regret it the next morning.” Mikleo’s tea remained untouched. “Now what do you want to talk about?”

“Well I’m the shepherd and I’d like to help you.” Said Rose. Mary Jane leaned back with one eye widened.

“Uh huh.” She said. “Should I wear a helmet?”

“What?” Rose asked.

“Oh you know so I don’t get too injured for when you pounce.” Said Mary Jane. “I mean that’s what the last Shepherd did.” Rose glared at Edna who was blowing on her tea.

“Don’t look at me I only know about the Shepherd and the S.H.I.T.S. through word of mouth.” She said.

“Look I don’t intend to hurt you … I just want to touch you.” Said Rose. Mary Jane scooted away from her. “No! Not that way! I just want to hold your hand or something!”

“Pretty sure that if you want to purify her you do have to beat the shit out of her.” Said Dezel. “I mean that’s what Lailah said.”

“Nobody’s beating up anybody! I just wanna learn her story and purify her without resorting to violence because that would get me arrested!” Rose exclaimed.

“Wasn’t a problem for the last Shepherd, just saying.” Said Mary Jane.

“Yeah well he wasn’t possibly wanted for drug allegations.” Said Rose. “Now please, just give me your hand.” Mary Jane looked to the sides and gave Rose her hand. Rose closed her eyes and tried sending her (and by extension Edna’s) influence into Mary Jane. She twinged as she felt some heavy malevolence blocking her. She continued to try to push on but the malevolence wouldn’t let up. She felt something trickle down her nose.

“Rose!” She heard Sergei shout.

“Mary Jane…? What happened to you to make you this way?” Rose asked.

“Well over thirty five years ago, I was a nun who served under the local sanctuary.” She began “Since we live in a part of the country where private practice medics are few and far between and the good graces and healing under a seraph are even more so, I primarily served as a midwife. I was a trusted nun in the city in terms of childbirth and following up on the mothers.”

“However that all ended up changing when one of the other nuns had started acting strangely as she was actively avoiding everyone else in the sanctuary. I approached her about her behavior but she dodged any question I would ask. However while going home one night I saw her in very scandalous clothing and I followed her to a street corner where she was picked up by some men offering her a good time she teased them and gave them a price. They gladly agreed and they walked away. I went to the sanctuary and told one of the priests. Word got to the higher ups and she got kicked out of the sanctuary.

“She somehow figured out that I told the priests and she found me one day. I never forgot what she said that day; “I hope you’re happy you tattling pious bitch, because someone who ruined me should be ruined as well. I hope you never have another successful birth done by your hands and may it cause your reputation to crash and burn and may you suffer from the despair of all your failures” and after that I never saw her again. I didn’t think much of it until a young couple came to me for help.

“The wife was pregnant and the husband suspected that she will be having twins with not much to go off of but a gut feeling and her showing earlier than what they observed to be normal. And he wanted some help with making sure his wife’s pregnancy was going well as well as for me to be the midwife for when she gave birth, and any care and assistance I can provide afterwards. The man virtually gave up his savings which, well some of it ended up being donated to the church while I encouraged him to keep the rest as he will need them to provide for his children. I told him that I didn’t have any experience with delivering twins, nor did any of the other nuns, but I accepted his request because well … the sanctuary helps people and it’s not like they can find anyone that would know anything about twins, if they did it would be hellishly expensive.

“And so the day came when for the twins to be born everything was going smoothly until the wife got some complication. Which ended up making things harder. She eventually gave birth to both children but I nearly ended up snapping both their necks. And she just died right after.” Rose’s eyes jolted open and she looked over to Sergei who was still looking at her worried. She wiped her nose and looked down to realize that it started bleeding minutes ago but manage to stop then she looked back to Mary Jane.

“What happened after?” Rose asked.

“The death was considered a one off accident partially due to not knowing how to deal with twins. However after that I got into a streak of failing that I eventually had to leave the sanctuary as they thought I was doing more harm than help.”

“And was that when you turned into a hellion?” Rose asked.

“No. Not yet. Like Sergei said I then started up an apothecary and ran that until the weather started going bad and herbs were unable to grow. Prices for importing herbs sky rocketed and no one was coming so I had to close shop. Then I … went into other … related work.” Continued Mary Jane. Rose looked back.

“So that’s what those are for.” She said.

“Yes, but selling drugs outside of the standard fare gels and bottles are illegal. So I had to deal in back alleys until the city guard started getting suspicious. I eventually ran out of hiding places within the city so I moved out here and set up shop. There I continued my work doing the usual while going back to town for food and supplies. People recognized me as someone untrustworthy to the point where if anyone was spotted going in or out of my tent they would be arrested. Then the town’s people started refusing me service and calling me names like the “powder witch.” And at that point I started believing them. So I ended up living out the things people had called me until I became what I am right now.” She finished.

“Do you feel guilty that people got addicted?” Rose asked.

“Not really … the people that come to me normally were in pain and couldn’t afford regular gels so I thought I could help them with something cheaper.” She said. “I feel far more guilty for the arrests and that I failed so many mothers a long time ago than I do the drugs.” Everyone was silent for a while.

“You know … I think she may have been cursed.” Said Mikleo.

“And how would you know this dear seraph?” Mary Jane asked.

“The Celestial Record has a brief mention on curses oddly enough on the section about the S.H.I.T.S. and Camlaan.” Explained Mikleo “ _Sometimes people become angry enough to wish cruel things to a person and have the blood to back up those words putting the recipient in a state of eternal misery. That is the nature of a curse._ Is what the passage says but there wasn’t any other mention.”

“So is it safe to assume that the woman she suspected for prostitution may have cursed her?” Rose asked.

“Maybe, but she needs blood to be able to curse her.” Said Mikleo.

“Is there a way to remove it?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know. That was the only thing in the Celestial Record that talked about curses.” Said Mikleo. Rose lets go of Mary Jane’s hand.

“Let’s go find that woman.” Said Rose. “She may be the key to purifying her.”

“Keep in mind that I have to help with the quarantine, so you might be on your own.” Said Sergei.

“Fine.” Said Rose. She turned back to Mary Jane. “I will find a way to purify you. That’s a promise. Besides I think what you really look like is more fitting the hag.” Mary Jane laughed.

“Oh you flatter me Shepherd, you’re going through so much trouble to not knock me on the head I don’t know if I’m worth that much.” She said.

“Hey you may be doing some illegal shit but I don’t think that qualifies you for a curse. And if it’s any consolation, without you Sergei probably wouldn’t be here.” Said Rose. “And If I can’t find anything I’ll go and whack you on the head.”

“Charming.” Remarked Dezel. “But do you know what this woman looks like?”

“No … And even if I asked Mary Jane and went off of what she told me that woman could look completely different since roughly thirty years have passed since Mary Jane last saw her.” Said Rose. “We’re gonna have to look for locations based on ‘hey have you seen a woman that got fired from the sanctuary thirty years ago?’ … We should probably start at the sanctuary.”

“Sanctuary..? Oh shit the medicine!” Sergei exclaimed. “Rose can I borrow the pouch you got from Neif?”

“Yeah.” Said Rose pulling out the pouch that had some medicine and handing it over to him.

“Mary Jane, we’re gonna be heading into a plague town to distribute this.” Said Sergei.

“Where are you going with this?” Rose asked.

“Since there’s a lot of sick people I’m worried that we’re not gonna have enough. I was wondering if you could make a bit more.” Said Sergei giving the pouch to Mary Jane.

“Oh.” Said Rose. Mary Jane looked inside the pouch and took a bit out and spread it around in the palm of her hand.

“Hm … I’m afraid I have neither the ingredients nor the equipment to make this.” She said putting the bits of medicine back in the pouch. “I’m sorry Sergei.” She gave the pouch back to him. Rose shrugged.

“Worth a shot.” Said Rose. “C’mon we’re going to camp out.”

“Well since you’re going through so much trouble why not rest here for … however long.” Offered Mary Jane. Rose looked over to the Seraphim.

“Sure.” Said Sergei.

“Uh …” Rose started.

“We’ll be fine, you’re our vessel after all.” Said Edna.

“Yeah fine.” Said Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had some time before school started up again so I though I would post this.
> 
> Mary Jane's name is based off of a slang for a drug. Can you guess what it is? Also fun fact Mary Jane was meant to have different back alley job but since she's named after drug slang, previously ran an apothecary, and drugs, namely the G-rated version of heroine that this fic has and the G-rated version of meth that the fic will have (a.k.a. the fake elixir), were mentioned/discussed earlier in the fic I just ended up making her a drug dealer.
> 
> On the formaldehyde well aside from Sigreid Zestiria's world, much more specifically Glennwood is preindustrial and formaldehyde wasn't identified until around the mid 19th century on Earth which is an industrial time and using a variant of formaldehyde as embalming fluid is more modern than Arthurian times. Thus no one knows what formaldehyde is in case you were wondering.


	20. Search for the Curse Bringer

Chapter 20: Search for the Curse Bringer

The group rested without incident and they next day they entered Marlind. While like Ladylake it was a beautiful town, though surrounded by trees and every building almost made up entirely of wood rather than in the middle of a lake, but there was thick malevolence in the air causing the atmosphere to be very dismal. Sergei gave a very irritated sigh.

“What?” Said Rose.

“This is where I grew up … It’s sad to see my home like this.” Said Sergei. A dog came up to them and whimpered. Mikleo yelped and backed up.

“Meebo it’s a dog.” Said Edna. She paused and looked at him. “Aaw don’t tell me you’re scared of a little dog.”

“I’ve had a really bad experience with dogs.” Mikleo said through his teeth.

“Relax Mikleo. It won’t harm us.” Said Dezel going up to it.

“Dezel I don’t think it-” Mikleo started. The dog growled at them and unveiled its true form, that of a fierce hellion.

“It’s a hellhound look out!” Edna warned. Rose drew her knives but Dezel got between her and the hellion.

“Wait!” he shouted. Rose stood still with a knife inches away from his chest. The hellhound ran up to try to bite Dezel but Mikleo casted a seraphic arte pushing it back.

“Don’t hurt it!” He cried.

“Great, first we have a shepherd that won’t knock people on the head and now we have a seraph that will stop us from purifying any animal looking hellions.” Sighed Edna.

“Well to be fair he’s always been like this.” Said Rose.

“Hey! If you end up straight up fighting it you could end up really hurting it or even accidentally killing it!” Said Dezel.

“And do you have an alternative to fighting it?” Mikleo asked. The hellhound ran at them again but Dezel whipped one of his pendulums and tied it around one of its ankles, he pulled it causing the hellion to fall. He then quickly went up to the hellion and restrained it. The hellhound squirmed around and tried to bite Dezel’s face off.

“Rose do you need hellions to be unconscious to purify them?” Dezel asked. Rose opened her mouth for a brief moment then started counting to herself the hellions she’s purified.

“Well with the exception of Mary Jane who is in progress … yeah.” Rose admitted.

“Then knock the hellion out with your knife handles!” Said Dezel. Rose stared at him absolutely dumbfounded.

“You’re asking me to knock an animal in the head basically hurting it something that, need I remind you, you have been openly against since we were kids.” Said Rose.

“Will you just do it I don’t want to fight it!” Dezel shouted.

“Fine! Jeez!” Rose shouted back “but on the condition you don’t give me any shit when I go hunting.”

“Fine, just knock it out!” Dezel shouted. Rose then whacked the hellion on the head with the handle of her knife knocking it out cold. Dezel dropped the hellion and the malevolence seeped into the earth purifying the hellion, turning it back into a dog. She put her knife away.

“Hey Edna, do you think the hellhound was the result of people being upset over the lack of help with the plague?” Rose asked.

“Probably or they’re the plague itself.” Edna shrugged. “Just a guess.”

“Think purifying the hellhounds might do something about the malevolence?” Rose asked.

“Likely.” Edna shrugged.

“Kay. Let’s go the sanctuary, and take care of any hellhounds we run into.” Said Rose. The seraphim went back into her body and she and Sergei walked to the sanctuary with Sergei leading the way. They found a couple of hell hounds along the way and quickly knocked them out, purifying them. They eventually got to the sanctuary where one of the soldiers went up to Sergei.

“Captain! Thank goodness you can make it, when we heard that the bridge collapsed we thought that you and the rest of the quarantine squad couldn’t make it.” They said, they then looked over Sergei. “Where is the rest of the squad?”

“They’re still working on the bridge, I was only able to get here with the Shepherd’s help.” Said Sergei nodding over to Rose.

“So this girl is the Shepherd?” The soldier asked.

“Believe him or don’t but he is telling the truth, I did manage to help him across the river while anyone else needed for the quarantine is on the other side of Griflet Bridge.” Said Rose.

“Rose can you make sure that this medicine gets distributed?” Sergei asked giving the pouch back to Rose.

“Sure.” Rose shrugged. She started walking away just as Sergei was giving orders. She went inside the sanctuary and walked up to a priest. “Excuse me.” She said. He turned his attention from the person he was treating. “I’m here on behalf of Captain Sergei Strelka of the Hyland army. Could you tell me who I should give this medicine to so it gets distributed?” The priest leaned to her side to see someone behind her.

“Oi! Father Kailen you got someone that needs to talk to you!” He shouted.

“I’m coming I’m coming!” She heard someone huff then running up to where they were. She turned to a very frazzled middle aged man with greying frizzy brown hair and green eyes. “Yes?”

“I got this medicine from Captain Strelka and it needs to be distributed to as many as you can.” Said Rose. Father Kailen opened the pouch to examine the contents inside and shook it around a bit then counted the number of sick within the sanctuary. He then closed the pouch.

“You there get me some clean rags!” He barked at a priest. “And what are those dead bodies still doing there? I thought I told you people to clear those out! Keeping them here could make the plague worse! And get someone to bury them!”

 _“We should probably take care of our job.”_ Said Edna.

“By the way father Kailen, do you know of a former nun named Mary Jane?” Rose asked.

“The witch of the wall? Yeah.” Father Kailen responded.

“I heard of a falling out between her and another nun that worked here but got kicked out over some presumed sexual misconduct.” Said Rose. “Do you know anything about that?”

“Hm … Let’s see …” Father Kailen muttered. “Oh! I think I may have an idea on who and what you’re talking about.”

“Really?” Said Rose.

“Yes … It was about a month after I started serving the sanctuary give or take a few weeks … Yeah ... The woman you might be talking about would have been Ingess as she got into a fight with Father Westby, the head priest of the time, over her upholding some sort of affair a Mr. Vandermyer that apparently the former sister Mary Jane had witnessed.” Said Father Kailen.

“Would you know where she would be?” Rose asked.

“Hm … I would check the Vandermyer estate … I think it would be somewhere to the south east … it’s close to the wall. You’ll know it when you see it.” Said Father Kailen.

“Thank you Father Kailen.” Said Rose with a bow.

“The least I could do for the medicine Shepherd.” Said Father Kailen.

“How …” Rose began.

“You’re wearing a very similar cloak as the moron from thirty years ago. Figured he passed the job on.” He said going back to his work. Rose left the sanctuary and went to the south eastern edge of the city close to the wall there was a fairly large gothic looking house that looked out of place with the wooden houses and in front of the house was a guard being attacked by a hell hound.

“Ugh aaah!” He screamed as the hell hound mauled him.

“Dezel!” Rose called out.

“All right I got it!” Snapped Dezel getting out of her body and running towards the hellhound tackling it then restraining it. Rose ran over and knocked the hellhound over its head. The guard passed out bleeding from his wounds.

“Want me to heal him too?” Dezel asked.

“Well I was going to ask Mikleo but if you really want to sure.” Said Rose. Dezel went up to the guard and healed up some of his wounds when a woman came out.

“What on earth is going on here?” She asked.

“Uh hi, I was here to ask the head of the house a few questions when your guard got attacked by a rabid dog. Don’t worry though he’s fine and the dog’s been taken care of.” Said Rose. The woman looked over to the unconscious guard, then to the dog then back to Rose.

“What do you want to ask?” She asked.

“I would like to talk to the head this house hold.” Said Rose.

“That would be me.” Said the woman. “Berwyn Vandermyer.”

“All right … are you familiar with the name Ingress?” Rose asked. Berwyn snorted to herself.

“Been a long time since I heard that name. What about it?”

“What information do you have on this woman?”

“Let’s see … I was a young child back then … when my father took in a mistress by that same name from the church. I heard she was a holy woman that he had taken a liking to. My mother did not know about this affair until it got out that she got kicked out of the sanctuary when she came running here asking my father for assistance to help her to live. Mother being actually a very jealous woman lashed out at the both of them and days later managed to remove father from the estate leaving him with no money.” Said Berwyn.

“Do you know what happened to them after you father got kicked out of the house?” Rose asked.

“Um … well … a few years later I don’t know what happened to my father but …” Berwyn continued she hesitated.

“Looks like she … she might …” Dezel started seeming distracted between healing the guard and checking Berwyn to see if she’s lying.

 _“Dezel, let me take over.”_ Said Edna.

 _“What’s this Edna offering to heal someone? Am I dreaming?”_ Said Mikleo.

_“Well you’re being awfully rude! I was just offering my services to Dezel.”_

“Go ahead.” Said Dezel stopping the arte. Edna came out of her body and started healing the unconscious guard. Rose looked over to Dezel for information. “Yeah there’s probably pretty fucked up about this I mean judging by her voice and what I can sense from her body language. And she is being honest about it.”

“But what?” Rose asked Berwyn.

“I managed to find out that Ingress had died and her corpse was just rotting there in a back alley with a knife sticking out of her gut. And for some reason there is this awful aura about it.” Said Berwyn. “Call me crazy but it feels like there’s a demonic presence around that body like there is this entity that lingers around the body. I mean every time I pass that alley way she is still there and that aura has not gone away.”

“Hellion.” Said Edna.

“Yep.” Said Dezel.

“Also explains where she got the blood for her curse.” Said Edna.

“Thank you.” Said Rose. “Oh and one more thing, where is this back alley?” Berwyn looked at her confused.

“Who are you?” She asked.

“Just a … concerned but superstitious civilian that wants to help out this town.” Said Rose.

“… Let me show you.” She said. Berwyn guided Rose to the alley way she says she keeps passing. However in place of the corpse that the woman sees Rose saw a snake woman leaning in the corner presumably sleeping as its eyes were closed.

“Thanks.” Said Rose before stepping into the alley way drawing her knives.

“What are you doing?” Berwyn asked.

“… You might want to get going.” Said Rose. She took another step. The other seraphim came out. The hellion opened its eyes and turned its head. Berwyn shrieked as she saw the long decayed corpse just move. “Run now!” Rose shouted. Berwyn sprinted away.

“Well this looks like a pretty damn angry Echidna.” Said Edna.

“All the more reason to purify it.” Said Rose. “Can you guys cover me?”

“We should be saying that to you.” Said Dezel. “Pretty difficult to cast artes when the hellion is attacking us constantly.” Rose glared at him and mumbled under her breath.

“Hephsin Yulind!” Rose then shouted armatizing with the earth seraph. She charged forward and tried to punch the hellion but she slithered out of the way going towards the two seraphim in the back. “Oh no you don’t!” Rose shouted having the hovering gauntlets grab the hellion and throw her further back into the alley. The hellion got up then sprung forward head-butting Rose sending her back out of the alley interrupting Mikleo and Dezel. The Echinda started slithering out of the alley way.

“Dezel! Restrain it!” Mikleo shouted trying to block the hellion with his staff but she kept slithering around it.

“All right fine!” Dezel shouted swinging his pendulums having them wrap around the hellion and yanking her back. She jerked just as she was about to get out of the alley way. Rose jumped back into the fray and body slammed the hellion however she got back up and snapped her head towards Rose.

“Jeez these hellions are becoming tougher to knock out.” Said Rose as the hellion broke out of her restrains.

 _“To be fair the Aboleth was just you and Meebo and you refused to knock out Mary Jane.”_ Said Edna.

“Yeah you got a point.” Said Rose. She then turned to the hellion. “Speaking of Mary Jane, you think I should try to be diplomatic like with her.”

 _“… Sure.”_ Said Enda.

“Sister Ingress.” Rose started. “I know you’re upset and you cursed a fellow nun in revenge but-” The Echidna tried to chaw her but Rose blocked it. “Hey listen to me why not make up your differences?” The hellion hissed and shrieked at her. “Come on I’m sure you two can figure something out! Maybe there was a misunderstanding that Mary Jane walked in on! Just tell me your story!”

“She’s dead!” Dezel shouted back.

“Oh yeah …” Said Rose. “So knocking it out it is.” Mikleo set up an ice wall right between Rose and the Echidna having the hellion slam right into it making it crack.

“Dezel! Run up and restrain it!” Mikleo ordered.

“You blocked the way!” Dezel shouted back

“Use your imagination!” Mikleo shouted. Dezel listened for a section where the air currents flowed better around the ice wall.

“Well damn…” He muttered when he realized the only way was up while the ice wall was cracking more. “Rose toss me up!”

“… Kay!” Said Rose. Getting in position and having one of the hands extended.

 _“Oh this should be fun.”_ Said Edna. Dezel back out of the alley then sprinted forward and jumped onto the hovering gauntlet.

“Here we go!” Rose shouted launching Dezel high in the air. While in free fall Dezel manipulated the air so he could land behind the hellion then threw out his pendulums trapping it. The echidna struggled but Dezel stood his ground and tightened his pendulums with every movement.

“Hey knocking this wall down would be helpful you know!” Dezel shouted.

“We’re working on it!” Rose and Edna snapped back. Rose punched ice wall until it finally broke. She gave the hellion an uppercut making an unsettling snapping sound from the hellion’s neck. She fell back and the malevolence sank into the earth. The party heard the clanging of metal coming towards them. Sergei ran in skidding to a halt with Berwyn besides him.

“What’s going on here?” He questioned.

“There was some freaky shit that was possessing this corpse. Though I think it might be gone now.” Said Rose crossing her arms.

“What did …?” Berwyn started then her face changed to a look of realization. “You’re the Shepherd aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” Said Rose.

“…That … explains a lot.” She said then walked away.

“… You’re welcome.” Said Rose.

“This is typical behavior.” Shrugged off Edna. “Let it bother you and I will kick your ass.” Rose huffed then went to Sergei.

“So how’s the quarantine going?” She asked.

“Smoothly.” Sergei replied. “All soldiers are at their stations and some are currently disposing of any bodies.”

“Cool.” Said Rose. “Are you able to do some hellhound hunting?” Rose

“Perhaps.” Said Sergei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah life gets in the way and prevent you from writing and editing. So enjoy this filler chapter while the next chapter is in progress however long that will take. And I promise this current arc won't be as long as Lady Lake.


	21. Hellion Hunting

Chapter 21: Hellion Hunting

They properly disposed of the body, or rather they burned it, then went looking around for hellhounds. They found about fifteen hellhounds scattered throughout the city and with Rose knocking out each one as they went. Malevolence slowly let up as they went. However while checking for hellhounds they heard a roar causing them to look up. To see a draconic hellion flying above them.

“A dragon?” Rose exclaimed.

 _“No, look around.”_ Said Mikleo. The people that were outside were going about their days trying to avoid getting sick in whatever way the can. _“If it was a dragon normal people would see it.”_

 _“Meaning that it would be a drake.”_ Said Edna.

“The difference being?” Rose asked.

 _“Drakes are just young dragons, not fully manifested so you can still purify it.”_ Said Edna.

“Ah! It’s heading towards where the great tree is!”  Sergei exclaimed.

“Well then, lead the way!” Said Rose. The two ran through Marlind’s streets until they got close to the tree and Rose stopped and grabbed Sergei. “Maybe you should stay here while I sneak ahead.”

“What?”

“You’re loud as hell. I’m pretty sure the drake heard you while it was flying.” Said Rose. “And I really don’t want another Oroboros incident.”

“… Fine … Don’t die.” Grumbled Sergei. Rose went on ahead and hid in the bushes the other seraphim came out beside her. They observed the red drake as it rested by the tree and absorbed the malevolence around it.

“Looks like the city’s malevolence is energizing it somehow.” Whispered Edna.

“Should we go in and knock it out?” Rose asked.

“Are you high?” Dezel asked.

“Hell no it’s too dangerous!” Said Mikleo simultaneously.

“It’s not a full-fledged dragon yet so we can still whack it over the head and purify it.” Said Rose.

“You need wings to do that or at the minimum a power boost to Mikleo’s arrows.” Said Dezel.

“I think that’s manage able I mean me and Mikleo knocked out an aboleth.” Said Rose.

“Not armatized.” Said Mikleo. “And I don’t think aboleths are so close to being dragons.”

“No … I think I heard from Lailah that aboleths are just a powerful type of slime. Though slimes are usually very squishy and easy to deal with.” Said Dezel. “Well maybe except of man eaters which are-”

“All right, great, we know the difference between an aboleth and a drake can we please figure out something to take care of it because the best we got is shooting it down!” snapped Rose.

“You know the drake can hear us.” Said Edna. Everyone else turned to see an approaching drake looking right at them.

“Shit! Run!” Rose shouted. Mikleo and Edna went back into her body while she and Dezel scrambled out of the bush and ran from the Drake. They approached Sergei who saw the drake flying after them then started running.

“Goddammit Rose! How the hell do you manage to keep getting into trouble?” Sergei shouted.

 _“I think it’s part of the job.”_ Said Edna.

“This way!” Sergei shouted as they ran straight into the closest house with Sergei slamming the door. They heard the drake roar and silence, Sergei looked out the window next to the door to see the Drake flying away.

“That was close.” Sergei sighed.

“Sergei?” They heard a faint frail voice say. “Sergei? Is that you?”

“Where are we Sergei?” Rose asked.

“Yes it’s me father!” Sergei called. He then put his hand on Rose’s shoulder. “This is something personal I need to take care of. Whatever you do I’ll meet up with you later.” He then left the room. Rose nearly walked after him.

“Leave him be.” Said Dezel.

“… Edna you said that city’s malevolence is fueling it right? You think that if we quelled some of the city’s malevolence the drake would be weakened?” Rose asked.

“Worth a shot.” Said Edna. “But it is a hassel.”

“Though even if we quell most of the malevolence how are we gonna take down the drake?” Mikleo asked.

“We’ll get to that when we get to that.” Said Rose.

“More of a hassle.” Edna muttered.

“Better than doing everything all at once otherwise you get a half done job.” Said Dezel.

“Right. Let’s get to Mary Jane first to see if purifying her would help any.” Said Rose. The seraphim went back into her body and she left the house. She approached the city’s gate when one of the guards stopped her. “I’m leaving for a bit but I plan to be back.”

“That’s fine but we need to make sure that you haven’t succumbed to the plague.” Said a soldier. “Have you experienced fever, chills, weakness, coughing, or strange lumps around some of your joints?”

“No.” Replied Rose.

“Have you been in contact with rodents within the last few days?” The soldier asked.

“No.”

“Do you have any open wounds or sores?”

“No.”

“Have you sinned within the last few days?” The soldier asked.

“No.” Said Rose.

 _“Pff Yeah right.”_ Said Dezel.

“Have you been in contact with the sick within the last week?” The soldier asked.

“No.” Said Rose.

“Have you been in contact with any stray dogs?” The soldier asked.

“No.” Said Rose

 _“Liar.”_ Teased Dezel.

 _“They don’t know that.”_ Said Edna.

“All right, you can go.” Said the Soldier letting her through. Rose then rushed to Mary Jane’s tent.

“You’re back.” Said Mary Jane.

“Yeah and I think I may have lifted your curse and we found out where the blood Ingress needed came from.” Said Rose. Mary Jane’s eyes widened.

“Where?” She asked.

“She was stabbed, either by her own hands or by someone else’s.” Said Rose. Mary Jane put a hand over her mouth and gasped. “Mary Jane?”

“… I’m fine … it’s just … I thought I could try to make things up to her.” She said. “I mean I unintentionally ruined her life. I made her lose her job and likely had her go into prostitution.”

“Mary Jane …” Rose began. “What did you think would have happen when you told the priest about Ingress?”

“I … I don’t know. I was young and stupid back then I thought she would get off with a warning and try to improve her behavior not get her kicked out.” She said. “Or maybe I could have done things differently.”

“You know I don’t know if going back in time would’ve changed anything but I have a hunch that she may have forgiven you or at least let go of her grudge over time.” Said Rose.

“What makes you say that?” Mary Jane asked.

“Well we purified her. That has to count for something.” Said Rose. Mary Jane laughed.

“I guess you have a point.” She said. “Well are you gonna purify me or what?”

“Give me your hand.” Said Rose. Rose held onto Mary Jane’s hand and closed her eyes. “Edna can you help me with this?” She focused on taking all of the malevolence that built up over thirty years and let it flow into herself and directed it back to the earth using her and Edna’s powers. It took a while but when it was over she felt no malevolence left over. She opened her eyes to see an elderly woman standing taller than her, with frazzled grey hair attempted to be held back in a braid, and piercing green eyes in a simple green dress and an apron on her. Rose smiled. “You know, this fits more than the hellion form.” Mary Jane burst out laughing.

“Shepherd, don’t flatter me. However I am in debt to you so if you need anything feel free to come to me.” Said Mary Jane.

“Sure.” Said Rose. “I’ll keep in touch.” They walked out of the tent. “See we didn’t have to knock her out.”

“Now are you gonna do that with every other hellion we meet?” Dezel asked.

“If they’re living and human I think it’ll work.” Said Rose. “Otherwise we’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing what we’ve been doing.” When they got back to Marlind Rose was stopped and asked more questions before being let in. She and seraphim searched through the city to see if there were any remaining hell hounds and knock out other hellions lurking in the city. She then went in the direction Marlind’s tree was and ran into Sergei.

“You got everything taken care of?” Rose asked.

“Yeah, what about you?”

“We took care of Mary Jane and remaining hellhounds so we’re checking near the tree.” Said Rose.

“You know I think the abandoned museum is around there.” Said Sergei.

“Well there’s still a lot of malevolence here, let’s see if it’s related.” Said Rose. They went to the area around the great tree with thankfully no drake occupying it. The group then approached a musty, boarded up, yet ornate building. Rose got a shiver up her spine as she sensed malevolence around her. “Is this the place?”

“Yep.” Said Sergei.

“Goddamit.” She muttered under her breath.

“Why? I though you needed to go here.” Said Sergei.

“She’s scared of ghosts.” Said the seraphim simultaneously.

“Okay how the hell do you two know?” Dezel asked.

“It all has to do with why I’m able to armatize with Rose.” Said Mikleo. “See we went to the Galahand Ruins to find a divine artifact and-”

“Save it for later Mikleo.” Rose growled. The front doors of the museum opened on its own. “You saw that right?”

“Yep.” Said Edna. “Looks like it’s inviting us in.” Rose grimaced at the place.

“Do we have to?” She asked.

“Yes.” Said everyone else simultaneously.

“… Crap … let’s go.” Said Rose. The inside of the museum looked just as bad as the outside, if not worse. There were spider webs everywhere and everything was covered by a layer of dust. Statues were smashed, ceramics lay on the ground shattered and paintings were wither defaced or were out of their frames. “This place has clearly seen better days.” Said Rose.

“Yeah.” Sighed Sergei. He spaced out.

“You all right?” Rose asked. Sergei then snapped back to reality.

“Yeah, let’s keep going.” Said Sergei. They continued further into the abandoned museum and as they kept going it became more trashed with the exception of a few rooms that remained relatively unscathed but windows were broken and the wood on the walls and floor boards started to splinter. The only thing that remained unscathed was a green, gold, and white dagger on display covered in a layer of dust.

“Hey, this is a divine artifact isn’t it?” Said Rose.

 _“Looks like it.”_ Said Edna _“It’s even wind elemental.”_

 _“So … are we gonna steal this thing or take care of the hellion scaring Rose then steal this thing?”_ Mikleo asked.

“What?” Said Sergei and Dezel.

 _“How else do you think we got that bow?”_ Said Mikleo.

 _“Well nobody’s guarding it.”_ Said Edna.

 _“We’ll steal this thing later! Let’s just take care of this hellion that’s apparently running around here!”_ Dezel snapped.

“Boo! Boo!” They heard.

“GAAAAAAAAH!” Rose screamed. “WHAT WAS THAT?!”

“… Let’s go.” Sighed Sergei grabbing Rose by hood of her shepherd’s cloak and dragging her.

“But there’s something here!” She complained. They continued into museum however progress kept getting halted by some laughing or booing out of nowhere and Rose screaming and eventually jumping onto Sergei until they got to a room with a single painting in it. Then suddenly the doors shut behind them. “Oh god we’re trapped! We’re gonna die!”

“Rose get a hold of yourself we’re not gonna die!” Dezel shouted while grabbing her shoulders and shaking her a bit.

“Don’t go saying that, it means you’ll die first.” Said Edna.

“Okay how the hell does that make sense?” Dezel shouted. They head the laugh once more and a giant golden suit of armor holding a lance dropped from the ceiling.

“This is where the disembodied laughs are coming from?” Asked Rose.

“…A … apparently.” Said Dezel gesturing to the hellion but the hellion lunged at Dezel. “Whoa!” He dodged out of the way. The hellion stopped just short of crashing into the wall. It turned around and took great care in not hurting the painting, or the rest of the building, with its physique and weapon. Rose and Sergei ran forward to attack it but the suit pushed them back. Rose quickly recovered and tried to jump onto the hellion but it swatted her aside making her break through a wall.

“I’LL PURIFY THE SHIT OUT OF YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” She screamed as she fell right into a tree. Dezel ran over and poked his head out of the Rose shaped hole.

“Rose! Are you okay?” He asked. There was a pause he heard a groan. “Yeah she’s fine.”

“I imagine so, second story falls normally aren’t lethal.” Said Mikleo.

“Really, that’s good.” Said Dezel. “Can’t tell with stairs.”

“… we really only went up one flight of stair-” Said Mikleo before he got pinned against a wall by the suit of armor “Ugh!”

“Great we all know that Rose didn’t fall to her death can everybody shut up and focus on making this thing pass out?” Sergei shouted. They attacked the armor while it had Mikleo up against a wall causing it to drop the seraph so he could slip away and cast freeze lancer on it however it blocked the attack as well as any other attack from Sergei and Dezel. It then thrusted its lance at the two but they ducked out of the way. It then did a similar charge forward in an attempt to pin down Edna like it did Mikleo but being much smaller she slipped out of the way and it stopped short of crashing into the wall and carefully turned around. They heard muffled footsteps running towards the door.

“Rose if you have the dagger put it back!” Dezel shouted. The footsteps then ran away. And the hellion swung at him twice and he jumped out of the way both times the hellion backed up and charged at him. Dezel jumped out of the way and it stopped short of the wall. Sergei swung his sword at it while it was turning around but the blade didn’t even make a dent in the armor. That’s when they figured out an attack pattern for the hellion. Being precarious about the mostly undamaged room left it vulnerable to be wailed on by a sword or seraphic artes. However the hellion became aware of this and started blocking attacks that went to it. However Mikleo and Edna managed to find a weak point in the armor when they jammed their weapons into the back of the armor’s knees causing them to buckle and the armor to fall making it vulnerable to a stab in the back from a Rock lance courtesy of Edna. Though it didn’t pierced through the armor just launched it back to its feet. Mikleo got close to Dezel and Sergei.

“Go for the knees.” He said in a quiet voice then backing up to distract the hellion with a twin flow to the face. While Dezel also distracted it with a wind lance in the same general area leaving Sergei to run to the back and stab the armor’s knees causing it to stumble backwards. Just then they heard a banging on the door that startled everyone including the hellion.

“Ugh! Open!” They heard Rose shout albeit muffled by the door she tried to bust it open. Until she stabbed a knife close to where the door handle was and carved around it while completely destroying her knife. The door swung open on its own with a Rose running in throwing away the knife and clubbing the hellion with the back of her good knife and spare over the head making a loud _“Gong”_.  The hellion turned to Rose.

 _“No! No!”_ It angrily shouted.

“Crap.” Said Rose. She backed away slowly then she sprinted out of the room. She skidded before she turned to head down the stairs then she heard a crash. She turned and went back up the stairs to see a gaping hole in the wall. She looked out to see the hellion on the ground the others ran over and did the same thing. “We should purify it before it gets up.” She said.

“Yeah…” Said Edna.

“Well let’s go!” Said Rose.

“But…” Sergei started when Rose jumped out of the hole. “Rose!” They heard a _“DONG!”_ followed by a “SON OF A-!”

“Welp. I guess that’s my cue.” Said Dezel then jumped out of the same hole. Everyone else peeked their heads out to see Dezel landing safely then going up to Rose. Then healing up her leg.

“He does realize that he could just dematerialize to go back to Rose.” Said Mikleo.

“I think growing up with Rose had him pick up some of her habits.” Said Edna.

“So … stairs?” Sergei asked. Edna gave him a blank stare and she and Mikleo dematerialized. “Well screw you too.” He muttered under his breath then went for the stairs.

“Hey Edna can you-?”Rose started.

“Yes.” Edna interrupted purifying the hellion as Dezel finished healing her leg. Just then the armored rattled, Rose jumped and grabbed Dezel.

“Oh god it’s possessed! IT’S POSSESSED!” She shrieked.

“Hey! Who’re ya callin’ possessed?!” They heard a small voice shout. Everyone looked down to see a small black and white rodent looking thing wearing the armor’s helmet.

“Oh… it’s just a hamster.” Said Rose.

“How rude I’m not a hamster I’m a Normin!” The creature exclaimed. Dezel’s ears twitched when he heard ‘Normin.’

“Would you know Lailah by any chance?” He asked.

“Y’all know about Lady Lailah? Man I haven’t seen her in years! Are you friends of hers or somethin’?” The creature asked.

“Yeah … some of us more so than others.” Said Dezel.

“Well hot dog! Any friend of Lailah’s is a friend of mine, the name’s Atakk.” The Normin introduced itself. While Sergei just got to the scene.

“I’m Dezel.” Said Dezel. “These are Rose, Edna, Mikleo, and Sergei.”

“So what exactly is a Normin besides that doll thing on Edna’s-?” Sergei started.

“They’re a type of seraph.” Edna answered. “Normin are able to boost another seraph’s power in order to help make another seraph more powerful. They’re basically little helpers.”

“Yep a bit simplistic but that’s what we- What happened to the museum?!” Said Atakk before he noticed the giant hole above them.

“Well that was the result of our fight … sorry about one of the walls … and the door.” Said Rose.

“What did you do?” He asked frantically.

“Well …” Rose started. Edna sighed.

“You threw her though the wall, and then chased her down and destroyed that wall when she essentially broke a door open.” She said.

“How could I…?” Atakk started.

“You turned into a hellion.” Edna said bluntly. Atakk froze and put his paws on his head.

“… I remember, it was me.” He said. “I got mad and couldn’t control my rage, I tore my treasures and busted holes in my home. Now they’re gone and it’s destroyed and it’s all my fault!” The normin started to sob and ran off. The group split up and looked for him until Rose found him inside the museum close to the entrance.  She ran back out.

“Hey! He’s in here!” She called. Dezel was the first one to meet up with Rose. They went inside before everyone else.

“Atakk, what drove you to become a hellion? If it isn’t too painful to ask.” Dezel asked. Atakk looked up one of the walls that had a torn painting on it.

“I…” He choked out followed by a sniff. “I always had a thing f-fer art.” He sniffed again. “Y’know? Somethin’ I had a real passion for. I-I-I…” His words then turned into incoherent mumbling mixed in with sobs. “Sorry … I meant I moved here a long while back. Whittled my days away people watchin,’ lookin’ at fine art and goin’ through the archives. I wasn’t worshipped or anythin’ but I wasn’t lonely neither.” He started walking to the back of the museum. They followed and at that point Mikleo came in.

“Was it a good life?” Rose asked. Atakk sniffed.

“Yeah. I was happy. Really really happy.” He said then Enda found them. “But ever since humans took to fightin’ they started to get real nasty.” Edna scoffed and muttered something like ‘humans’ under her breath and it was at that point Sergei entered the room. “ _That country’s bad! Their art is bad! They’re inferior to us! If you have sentiments about them you’re one of them!_ They’d all say.” Sergei froze in his place and his breathing started to shake. “ _Slash it! Burn it! Burn them!_ So the soldiers busted in one day and took paintings and statues from other countries but the knife and threw them into a fire and they fueled it more with books and scientific journals.” Sergei turned away and left the room Rose turned her head as she heard his armor.

“So they used art as fuel for war.” Said Mikleo.

“And that ain’t even the half of it!” Said Atakk. “When that happened people started stealin’ art and sellin’ it to the black market! And they grabbed their money in their grubby hands. _Hooray war and profits!_ I got real mad I was so angry that I didn’t care what happened. And that’s when I turned into a hellion.” He looked at the untouched artifact. “I need to be alone for a little while.”

“C’mon.” Said Rose. They started walking out.

“Who knew that the source of all that malevolence would be the love of art.” Said Dezel.

“Well, I’ve turned for similar reasons.” Said Mikleo.

“Wait, you turned into a hellion?” Dezel asked.

“Yeah, that’s how I met Rose as a hellion and I tried to kill her.” Said Mikleo rather nonchalantly.

“I turned into a hellion when Rose became the shepherd.” Said Dezel.

“I know. Rose told me. She was pretty pissed for a while there because you kind of up and left.” Said Mikleo.

“Really now? Anyway the dragon, back at Rayfalke you seemed to care about it, was that the reason why you turned?” Dezel asked.

“… Yeah.” Said Mikleo. They met up with Sergei outside.

“Hey.” Said Rose he turned to her. “I heard you leave the museum is anything wrong?”

“You know when Atakk started talking about soldiers burning art and books?” Sergei asked.

“What about it?”

“That happened a while ago. I was one of the soldiers that was ordered to collect artwork and throw it into the fires.” Said Sergei.

“… What?” Said Rose.

“I burned artwork on an order, and gave no resistances even if there were people protesting our actions.” Said Sergei. “Even though it was my superiors wanting it to be I still feel responsible for Atakk turning into a hellion.”

“You know blaming yourself for carrying out orders will not get anywhere.” Said Edna poking the ground with her umbrella. “You humans tend to forget that actions are very important especially if you want to remedy things to the people you harmed.”

“Oh yeah.” Said Dezel. “I remember Lailah saying that it’s not just feelings that generate malevolence but it’s also generated through actions and inaction that can cause those feelings to manifest into something terrible.”

“Exactly.” Said Edna. “If you really feel sorry for what you did to the museum you need to work to remedy it.” Sergei’s eyes widened and he froze for a second. He dug in his pockets and pulled out the purse that contained his gald.

“I’ll be right back.” Said Sergei. Running into the museum.

“That little lecture applies to you too Rose.” Said Edna. “Your actions can potentially cause malevolence in others if you’re not careful and you of all people getting into a self-pity party can be especially dangerous.”

“Oh please have I done any of that?” Said Rose putting her hands behind her head.

“Then I guess we have nothing to worry about.” Said Edna. Meanwhile Sergei ran to where Atakk was.

“Atakk!” He called out.

“… Yeah?” Said the normin turning to him.

“I was a soldier that burned some of the paintings and for that I’m sorry.” He said. “I know a simple apology won’t cut it but …” He pulled out his gald and tossed it on the floor. “Please use it for restoration.” Atakk giggled.

“‘Preciate the thought but it won’t help if I can’t tell people to fix those holes in the walls.” Said Atakk.

“Then I’ll convince the people to help restore this place.” Sergei promised. “You have my word.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you were hoping for the wind armatus don't worry that is coming very soon. Also if you were curious on what was going on with Sergei I'll be coming out with a related side drabble very soon.


	22. Defying Gravity

Chapter 22: Defying Gravity

Sergei left the museum to regroup with the rest of the group staring at the sky to see the drake flying around.

“So … got your stuff done?” Rose asked not turning to him.

“Yeah.” Said Sergei.

“Anyone got any ideas?” Rose asked.

“We could shoot it.” Said Mikleo.

“Or we could steal that dagger and fly up there.” Dezel suggested.

“I don’t think that would be such a good idea with a seraph that turned into a hellion when art got taken.” Said Mikleo. “Plus we don’t know if you could actually fly with that armatus.”

“Hold on.” Said Edna. She went back into the museum.

“So … it’s nice to feel less malevolence here.” Said Rose. They waited for a while before Edna came back with the knife and Atakk.

“I’m back.” She said. “I think you might need this.” She tossed the knife to Dezel.

“And I’m here too!” Said the Normin. “I heard that you folks could use an extra jolt of power.”

“Actually … we just might.” Said Rose with a smirk.

“With the power boost can we fly up to the Drake?” Dezel asked.

“I don’t see why not. Let’s do it!” Said Rose.

“You guys just want to see if you can fly with the wind armatus don’t you?” Said Mikleo.

“No!” Dezel denied.

“Well kind of.” Said Rose simultaneously.

“You know Edna told me that you guys were trying really hard to fix things up!” Said Atakk. Edna stomped her foot as if to signal to the normin to not give up some information, namely secrets like her being nicer than how she treats Rose. “If this town gets back on its feet then I think people will start appreciating the arts again, and maybe, just maybe fix the museum we busted up.”

“What’s this Edna trying to be indirectly nice to me instead of giving me snark?” Said Rose.

“Consider this a very, very early Winter’s Passing gift.” Said Edna covering her face with her umbrella. They heard the wing flaps of the drake getting closer. “Oh and look right on cue.”

“Dammit it’s so dark.” Said Sergei.

“Well you’d probably want it to be dark if you don’t want prying eyes.” Said Mikleo. “So any ideas on how to take it down?”

“You know it feels like it might be a clear night tonight.” Said Dezel. “Meaning that Rose might get helped by the moonlight.”

“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Said Rose.

“So how does armatizing work?” Dezel asked.

“Lukeim Yurlin!” Rose shouted the armatus this time had green accents and knife wings. “Nice.” She said looking at the wings. “Now, let’s get to some higher ground.” They found a house nearby and Rose leapt onto the roof with Atakk.

“Well that’s promising.” Said Rose.

 _“Let’s get to the Drake.”_ Said Dezel.

“All righty one power boost that should launch you sky high commin’ up!” Said Atakk. “Normin power!” Rose felt a surge of energy go through them. She then jumped blowing up a large gust knocking the Normin back but Mikleo caught him. Rose felt weightless with the wind beneath her and zooming straight for the Drake. She started to laugh, at first with small giggles then a regular laugh and finally a big bellowing laugh before doing a flip in the air.

 _“What is it?”_ Dezel asked sounding breathless from trying to hold in any laughter.

“We’re flying!” She exclaimed. “It worked and we’re flying!”

 _“I know!”_ Exclaimed Dezel most likely absolutely beaming in Rose’s head. _“It works! It works!”_

“Holy shit this is amazing! How do we work this thing?” Rose shouted.

 _“Dibs on flying!”_ Dezel shouted.

“Dammit!” Rose snapped. “Fine I’ll focus on the attacks … but we’re flying!”

_“We’re flying!”_

“We’re flying!”

“It looks like they’re high on the euphoria of flying.” Said Edna on the ground looking up.

“Is she singing up there?” Mikleo question judging from the grand gestures not unlike performers in a musical.

“No Meebo. She is trying to seduce the drake by making herself look delicious.” Said Edna sarcastically Mikleo glared at her.

“If that’s the case then it’s working.” Said Sergei.

“She’s not seducing it she’s singing and the Drake got curious.” Said Mikleo. “Aaaaand it’s not working.”

“… We’re doomed.” Sighed Sergei.

“ _IIIIIIIIIIIIII’m through accept-_ ” Rose sang while Dezel protested to get her to stop and then spotted the drake flying away. “Hey get back here!”

 _“Oh thank god.”_ Dezel muttered as Rose flew forward to the drake and head-butted it. The drake reared its head and flew towards her to return the head-butt. However stuck out her hand and the knives got infront of her and blocked the drake’s attack.

“Virulent shards!” She and Dezel shouted and the knives flew forward piercing the drake’s wings and causing it to fall out of the sky. It crashed right next to the rest of the party who went from just standing around dumbfounded to pulling out their weapons with Sergei charging at the fallen drake in seconds. Rose flew down to assist the group with Mikleo and Edna staying to the back casting seraphic artes and the occasional healing arte. Rose, like Sergei, charged in using the wings and her body as a whole weapon. With every movement the wings reacted as an extension of herself carving into the drake. The drake unleashed a fire breath at the group with Rose being the only one flying out of the way while everyone else got burned and their injuies came in a wide spectrum between not that bad … kind of to you were right next to the dragon’s mouth you’re gonna die if no one heals you.  “Soul Resonance!” Rose and Dezel shouted healing the rest of the group a little bit.

“Oh boy.” Edna sighed as she casted a healing arte. “Barrier!” she said healing everyone else who got burned a lot more. The drake started to fly up again.

“Oh no you don’t!” Rose shouted. “Dragon blitz!” She made a tossing motion summoning a small cyclone knocking the dragon on its back. “Quick go for its wings!” She shouted.

“On it! Dragon Swarm!” Sergei shouted unleashing a flurry of slashes that disabled a wing the drake roared in pain then clenched its jaw and rolled over to get back up. He clawed at Sergei but he ducked and ran out of the way. Rose and Dezel unleashed another Dragon Blitz on it doing more serious harm and the drake breathed fire at them in retaliation. They flew up and around the fire breath stream up close to the Drake’s face having them land a quick wind blade. It turned and tried to bite them but they flew away and the drake unleased another fire breath at it again and they dodged it again. While the Drake was preoccupied with breathing fire at Rose and Dezel hoping that one of these times it would hit the rest of the group were unleashing hell the Drake’s body. Edna was whacking it with her umbrella and incorporating several spins with each attack. Sergei while using his Dragon Swarm arte consistently followed it up with Sonic thrust, Sword rain, Hell Pyre, and many other artes before looping back to Dragon Swarm. Mikleo was in the back casting Freeze Lancer and Ice Reaver then healing Sergei or Edna if they got hurt by the drake naturally moving around trying to get Rose and Dezel or by the drake’s fire trying to fry the two flying by them.

“It’s time to finish this!” Rose shouted. They flew right under the drake’s jaw. “Dragon blitz!” they shouted launching the attack up at the drake causing its head to snap back and knocking it out. Rose redirected the malevolence into the earth and the drake reverted back into an unconscious blond seraph in brown robes. Mikleo went over to the seraph and started healing him. Rose landed and then separated from Dezel.

“Oh my god.” Said Rose.

“Yeah.” Said Dezel.

“Oh my god.” Rose repeated.

“Yeah.” Said Dezel. The two then burst out laughing causing Edna and Sergei to jump back from the shock of Dezel of all people being able to genuinely laugh.

“We flew and we kicked ass!” Rose cheered.

“Yeah! Ya did it!” Atakk cheered. The two hugged each other and Rose managed to pick up Dezel about an inch off the ground.

“Oh god heavy!” She said before putting him back down.

“Shut up.” He said in an oddly jolly tone.

“We beat a dragon!” Rose cheered.

“It’s a drake.” Mikleo corrected.

“So what? We purified it!” Dezel cheered.

“I think … I think I’m scared.” Commented Sergei on Dezel being very cheery.

“I’m right with you.” Said Edna. “I hope someone makes him stop.” The group heard a groan from the seraph and Dezel went back to his default stoicism. Mikleo stopped healing and backed off as the seraph got up.

“Hm … managed to be purified.” He muttered to himself. He then looked over to Rose. “Are you the Shepherd?”

“Yeah. And are you Marlind’s…?” Rose started.

“Guardian Seraph, Rohan.” He introduced himself. He then lowered his head. “Rather … I was … I almost became a dragon so I don’t have a right to call myself a guardian.”

“Hey now …” Said Rose, Sergei went up to the seraph then got on one knee.

“Seraph Rohan, my name is Sergei Strelka I’m a resident here.” He said. “I along with many, many, other residents of Marlind are grateful that you had protected us for years. However we started committing atrocities in the name of Hyland and taking you for granted. I can’t speak for everyone here but I am sorry for having a part in turning you into a hellion. And I ask you that, if you want to, you continue to be Marlind’s guardian seraph. If you don’t that is fine and we will find another seraph to go into this role.”

“You sure are passionate about this town.” Said Rohan.

“It is my home.” Sergei stated.

“Also you can see me?” He questioned.

“I have pledged myself to be Rose’s squire.” Said Sergei.

“Have you now?” He then looks to Rose. “…and you’re okay with this?” The other seraphim looked at him confused.

“Yeah.” Said Rose. Dezel then eyed her as if to say ‘you’re lying.’

“I see.” Said Rohan. “Well the malevolence has lowered significantly. Were you the one who caused this?”

“Well partly, it was a group effort!” Said Rose with a smile on her face and her hands behind her head.

“Very well, then I’ll extend my blessing.” Said Rohan.

“I’ll help too!” Said Atakk.

“Hey thanks!” Said Rose.

“Thank you.” Said Sergei simultaneously. Rohan walked up to the great tree and examined it.

“Hm … the corruption has yet to spread here. I’ll use this as a vessel to extend my blessing.” He said.

“Okey dokey! Normin power!” Said Atakk. Rohan touched the tree however the malevolence didn’t disappear completely.

“What’s this?” He said.

“What?” Said Rose.

“There’s still a hellion wandering around near here.” Said Rohan. “It’s domain is powerful enough that I can’t protect this town from any minor hellions.”

“Where is it?” Rose asked.

“The southwest, not that far.” Said Rohan.

“Well let’s go take care of it.” Said Rose.

“Right now in the middle of the night where most soldiers would be sleeping?” Sergei asked.

“Sure let’s just-…” Said Rose as she stumbled forward.

“Rose!” Cried Dezel. She regained her composure.

“Just blanked out for a second.” She said.

“You need to rest.” Said Edna. “Inn. Now.”

“How about you stay at my place? It’ll be cheaper.” Said Sergei.

“Sweet let’s go.” Said Rose and the party left for the direction of Sergei’s house.

“So the Shepherd is deteriorating.” Said Rohan. “May you find someone with high resonance soon.” Dezel heard this and gritted his teeth. At Sergei’s house a couple of soldiers and a priest were walking out of it carrying a body wrapped in a sheet. The priest walks up to Sergei.

“We’re taking care of the body just like you ordered your father will be cremated soon. And I’ve exorcized the place so the demons of illness won’t affect the place.” He said.

“Thank you.” Said Sergei solemnly. “Did the letter to Boris get sent?”

“Yes. It’s on its way.” Said the priest. Sergei gave a slight bow and the priest left.

“Sergei …” Rose started.

“It’s fine.” Said Sergei. “I bet you guys are hungry.”

“Well …” Said Rose.

“I’m going to make some mabo curry.” He said and they entered the house. He went into the kitchen and started preparing the rice and then went to gathering the ingredients. Dezel then tapped Rose on her shoulder.

“I need to talk to you.” Said Dezel, “Alone.”

“Sergei, is there anywhere here that is relatively private?” Rose asked.

“Go upstairs.” He replied his voice wobbling a bit. Rose looked back then walked upstairs and went into one of the rooms. The room had two beds and a very old toy sword hung up on the wall, making Rose guess that this is Sergei’s and Boris’s room that barely changed from when they were children.

“What’s up?” She asked.

“Is there anything wrong with you?” He asked.

“Why are you asking?” Rose asked.

“I heard Rohan say that you were deteriorating and you need to find someone with high resonance soon.” Said Dezel.

“Well I guess I have to come clean don’t I? Since you’ve become a living lie detector and all.” Said Rose. “Recently I’ve been losing vision in my right eye. Though it’s primarily if I’m close to Sergei. Like there was a week where Sergei was away from me for that week and my vision cleared up.”

“How’s your eye now?” Dezel asked.

“I can make out colors but I can’t see any shapes.” Said Rose. She then closes her left eye all she could see were splotches of color washed out and blurry to the point that some colors would just blend together. “It’s just fuzz in this eye.”

“What are you gonna do?” He asked.

“I don’t know …” She replied. “Well since we’re soon gonna end up taking care of most of the malevolence in Hyland I might have to cut off the pact when we take care of the hellion.”

“All right. You plan to tell Sergei this?” Dezel asked.

“No.” Said Rose. Meanwhile Mikleo and Edna awkwardly stood in the kitchen with a sobbing Sergei muttering things about his father as he prepared the curry. They didn’t move or say anything in fear that it would ruin the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah Rose singing is honestly mostly a nod to Rose's English voice actress, Caitlin Glass. Mostly from an off hand comment made by Taliesin Jaffe on a Critical Role Q&A about her covering Hamilton or something like that.


	23. Fuzzy

Chapter 23: Fuzzy

After a relatively sleepless night that was mostly Sergei in a different room grieving over his recently deceased father and Rose overhearing it feeling too bad for Sergei to go to sleep but unsure how to comfort him and just laid in Boris’s old bed, they left the house the next morning. Rose and the seraphim waited outside of Sergei’s house while he put on his armor.

“What’s taking so long?” Sighed Rose.

“It’s armor with a bunch of buckles and other stuff on it.” Said Edna. “He’s probably tangled in them.”

“Well, fancy seeing you here.” They heard a familiar voice say. Rose and the seraphim looked up to see Muse sitting next to Eguille in a wagon full of goods from the sparrow feathers. Rose looked back to see a few more wagons behind them presumably full of more goods.

“Yeah.” Said Rose. “What brings you over here, I thought you’d be stuck on the other side of the bridge or even moved past because of the plague.”

“Well we’re here to hand over some medicine that’s been ordered and sell some goods.” Said Eguille.

“We are merchants.” Said Muse.

“So how is the bridge’s reconstruction going?” Rose asked.

“Well it’s going great!” Said Eguille. “Pretty amazing what they managed to do in a day thanks to you Shepherd.”

“It’s just a foundation.”

“Oh give yourself more credit.” Said Muse. “We couldn’t have made it over here with everything if it weren’t for you.”

“Some soldiers also made it over the bridge. And it seems like they might be some of the best as they took care of some rabid dogs earlier.” Said Eguille. “There are some mercenaries in town too though I wonder how well they will comply with the soldiers, as well Captain Kendra is known to have a … shaky … relationship with mercs.”

“I see.” Said Rose then looking over to Dezel.

“We might want to talk to those mercenaries about protecting town if you’re not under suspicion of breaking people out of jail.” Said Dezel.

“It might be more likely that those mercenaries could help cover for Rose.” Said Mikleo “Though honestly anything if we wanna evade possible arrest we need to talk to the Scattered Bones … right in front of us.”

“Hey I don’t see Sorey anywhere.” Said Rose.

“Oh you know with him being so prone to being sick in bed for days and this currently being a plague town he’s not here.” Said Muse.

“Where is he then?” Rose asked.

“With a kind lady outside of town living in a tent surrounded by blue stinky mushrooms.” Said Muse.

“Leaving him with a drug dealer, great parenting.” Said Edna.

“Well she did use to be a midwife so she might be good with kids.” Rose muttered to Edna.

“Hm? What was that?” Muse asked.

“Shouldn’t one of you be with him? I mean y’all are technically his guardians.” Rose asked.

“Um … actually …” Eguille started he then looked over to Muse. “Why did you leave him there?”

“I have my reasons.” Said Muse. “You could go check in on him if you want to.” The two stare at each other for a moment, then two moments, then going into five minutes.

“… Take care of the wagons.” He said gritting his teeth then getting off the cart and leaving.

“Zenrus is with Sorey right?” Mikleo asked.

“He is.” Muse confirmed.

“He’s a very powerful seraph. I’m surprised, how does an average but cocky human woman land him for a baby sitter?” Edna asked.

“He’s a friend of the family.” Muse stated. Edna looked over to Dezel.

“What?” He said. “She’s being honest.”

“Yes, and he actually raised Sorey, I just get credit for it because I’ve been with him the longest.” She said. She then looked off in the distance. “I was there the day he was born and I knew his parents before they died.”

“Really, what happened to them?” Rose asked. “And are you also credited for being Sorey’s guardian because no one can see Zenrus?”

“For that second question, that is also, mostly, the reason but it’s because I’ve known Sorey the longest.” Said Muse, she then sighed. “His father was murdered in a raid in the village we were in while his mother died giving birth to him.” They were quiet for a moment with Muse’s hands shaking.

“Muse …” Mikleo started.

“Sorry, I need to take care of these.” She said. She then left, at the same time Sergei came outside his eyes red and slightly puffy.

“Morning, hey are you okay?” Rose greeted.

“… Yeah.” Sergei replied. “So what are we doing?”

“Well I got word that some more soldiers and some mercenaries are in town. Why not talk to them and see if they can protect this town?” Rose suggested.

“Did you hear which soldiers will be in?” Sergei asked.

“I think I heard the name Kendra.” Said Rose.

“Okay, we’re looking for those mercenaries.” Said Sergei and started off walking.

“What?” Said Rose flatly following him with the seraphim returning to her body.

 _“Is this Kendra your crush or something?”_ Edna teased.

“No, we hate each other.” Said Sergei.

 _“Isn’t she your coworker?”_ Mikleo asked.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I have to like her.” Said Sergei. “Captain Kendra Ferron is quite honestly too overly loyal to the council to the point of frustration. We both know that the council doesn’t hold everyday people in high regard after they basically called them morons.”

“That’s true and I imagine that they’re not popular with the people.” Said Rose.

“They’re not, I mean, we didn’t have a choice on the men who essentially rule us they were chosen by the king.” Said Sergei. “Anyway that doesn’t matter to Kendra. She’ll agree with the council whether they are right or wrong, and worse she will fight you over it if they end up being wrong, not just argue, physically fight you.”

“Is she some stuck up noble?” Rose asked.

“Worse, she’s the daughter of the head of the gel and bottle manufacturers, Ferroni medicine.” Said Sergei.

“Wait, her family is responsible for the mass production of gels?” Rose asked.

“Yep.” Said Sergei.

“So how is she worse than an asshole noble?” Rose asked.

“Well for starters nobles in Hyland don’t have any power and hell the royal family is just merely a formality, since they don’t technically run the country. In fact anything that’s under protection from the king is technically under the protection and ownership of the council.” Said Sergei.

 _“Oh!”_ Said Mikleo.

“Oh is right Mikleo.” Said Sergei. “The council actually run things and if they have friends in business they can have legitimate sway in what happens to the country.”

“So Kendra has ties to one of the council members.” Said Rose.

“Yep, Bartlow to be exact.” Said Sergei.

“Oh fuck Bartlow.” Murmured Rose.

“What about Bartlow?” They heard a voice say. Rose turned while Sergei tried his best to suppress a groan. The woman going up to them was a soldier in the same uniform as Sergei with green eyes and black hair in a braided bun with ribbons hanging off of it. She gave off a cold yet sophisticated air about her.

“Bartlow is a … great man and knows just what to do for the country.” She droned. The woman, Kendra, then looked over to Rose.

“You’re the Shepherd aren’t you.” She said.

“What gave it away?” Said Rose.

“The cloak for one.” She said. “And your sarcastic tone about Bartlow. And I remember him telling me that you called him horrible things like a fool and a piece of shit.”

“Have you been with him?” Rose asked.

“How dare you!” Kendra snapped. “I’ll have you know that he is the smartest and greatest man I’ve ever known!”

 _“That statistically says a lot more about her than it does him.”_ Said Edna. Rose snorted to suppress a laugh and smirked.

“What?” She said.

“Let’s go Sergei.” Said Rose and started walking off.

“Strelka, should you really be hanging around an enemy of the state?” She questioned.

“Ferron she just called him names and probably lied to him, it’s not that bad.” Said Sergei.

“Tch, it sounds like something your brother would say. Next thing you know you’ll find yourself in prison because you attacked the council.” She said.

“You do know that identical appearances doesn’t equal identical personalities right?” He asked before he and Rose walked away looking for the mercenary group. They headed eventually found themselves in front of the sanctuary.

“All right! We still need to restock, don’t slack off got it?” They heard a voice say over the crowd gathered around.

“What happened?” Rose asked.

“Well some rabid dogs attacked the sanctuary and these mercenaries took care of them.” Said a person next to her. Rose pushed herself through the crowd to a group of mercenaries with dead hellions at their feet. She approached a man with brown hair tied back, a scar across his face and wearing a white shirt, orange pants and a breast plate over his shirt.

“Excuse me!” She called.

“Look lady we’re not here to do favors. If you need a baby sitter or your cat out of a tree find someone else.” He said.

“Actually I’m here to talk to you about a job.” Said Rose.

“All right, we are the Woodsmen and I am Lucas. What’s your job?”

“I want you to protect the city for a while.” Said Rose.

“Really, you want me and my men to be in this diseased town for whatever reason?” Said Lucas. “Why don’t you ask the soldiers?”

“I’m a Shepherd that has done very questionable things, I’m not gonna get anywhere with the soldiers that have just come in.” Said Rose.

“Wait wait wait wait wait.” Said Lucas putting his hands up. “You’re the Shepherd? As in the miracle bridge builder? What the hell did you do to piss off members of the army?”

“Well stole a sacred sword and ran off with it for one.” Rose listed. “Also called Bartlow a fool and a piece of shit and broke people out of jail.”

“And you want us to guard this town so you can take the credit and clear your name is that it?” Said Lucas.

“No I was planning to pay you for your services and give a little extra for not speaking about what I just told you and for putting up with Kendra Ferron and telling her that you never saw us.” Said Rose.

“You mean that soldier that’s been sucking off Bartlow?” Lucas asked. Mikleo and Edna visibly cringed.

“If I knew what they looked like that would be an image.” Said Dezel.

“You don’t want that.” Said Edna. “Trust me on this.”

“Yeah, ugh I need something to get rid of that image.” Said Mikleo.

“There’s a bar not too far from here Meebo. Would you like to join me in sneaking out some alcohol and getting stupid forgetful drunk?” Asked Edna.

“Wha-ah-No! No.” Said Mikleo.

“The very one.” Said Sergei. Lucas eyes Sergei.

“And for you this is out of spite isn’t it?” Said Lucas.

“I’m not gonna deny when I’m being petty.” Said Sergei. “Yes this is partly me being petty over a coworker I hate.”

“Oh wow.” Lucas groaned.

“How much?” Rose asked.

“I can’t say, you haven’t been specific on the job other than keeping quiet about your prison exploits and pissing off your coworker.” Said Lucas “I can’t give prices until I know what me and my men are getting into and that this isn’t some sort of fucking prank.”

“All right. I figured out a way to help the town get back to the way it was but it’ll require me to leave town for at least a while. I need you to protect Marlind until I get back.” Said Rose.

“Very well, the job plus the personal bullshit fee will round out to about 7500 gald.” Said Lucas. “Now, if you’re unable to pay it then all bets are off.”

“Rose are you sure this is a good idea without at least haggling first?” Mikleo asked. “I mean he’s probably joking about the personal bullshit fee.” Rose ignored him and counted 7500 gald and gave it to Lucas.

“Here you go 7500 gald.” She said Lucas looked over to Sergei.

“You’re being awfully quiet about this. I half expected you to criticize me for the money.” He said to Sergei.

“I’ve been around long enough to realize that to move up in the world you either need money or a shit ton of luck. Money is just the more practical way.” Said Sergei.

“Hm, you’re much less of an idealist than I pegged you for soldier. Oh and Shepherd, I have one more condition to this little contract. You let me and my men do whatever we want to this town while you’re gone.” Said Lucas stepping up to her.

“Rose, maybe you should think about this.” Mikleo warned.

“Sure.” Rose replied.

“Are you sure?” Lucas asked.

“You seem like the type that values contracts highly, even the fine print. Someone like that shouldn’t be too sketchy if my instinct has been correct thus far.” Said Rose. Lucas smirked and snorted a laugh.

“You pass the test.” He said. He goes up to his men, “All right men listen up! We’re staying in this city! Squads Alpha and Bravo I need you to make a perimeter. Charlie you guys stay in town. Don’t slack off these are direct orders from the Shepherd herself!” He then turned back to Rose. “Oh and Shepherd,” he tossed her a sack of gald. “Your change, we believe in giving our customer a fair price. And please, never come back to me for any of your personal garbage.” Rose opened the pouch and counted 4500 gald inside.

“At least that was cheaper than we thought.” Said Dezel.

“Though I think he was serious about that personal bullshit fee.” Said Rose putting the pouch away. “So to the source of malevolence?” The party left Marlind after going through the security checkpoint then head towards the southwest area of the Falkewin Hillside. There they noticed a forest that was emanating quite a lot of malevolence and according to Sergei it’s where the Borhs ruins reside. They entered and Rose felt a familiar pressure in her chest.

“Yeah we found it.” Said Rose.

“Wh-whatever’s h-here it can’t be good.” Mikleo shivered.

“Are you all right?” Sergei asked.

“I-I-I don’t know … brr …” He said.

“Hey Mikleo, how about you stay in me until we figure out what type of hellion we’re dealing with.” Said Rose. Mikleo nodded and went back into her. They walked further into a forest purifying hellions along the way until they came across a ruin and a lone stone sticking up.

“What’s this?” She said walking up to the stone.

“It looks like a tombstone.” Sergei remarked. Rose leaned in close.

“Yeah it looks like it is. There’s engravings on here.” She said she then tried to read the engraving “Se … n … the rest is too faded to read.” She then dusted away the stone. “Oh hey there’s a bit more … according to this, this person died around eighteen years ago.”

 _“It’s in bad shape.”_  Said Dezel.

 _“Things like this happen when structures are left alone in remote areas.”_ Said Edna. _“It’s the way of the world.”_

“Well one thing for sure the malevolence isn’t from this dead person here but …” Said Rose.

 _“But?”_ Said Edna.

“But we should leave our respects, it just feels like it’s something nice we should do.” Said Rose.

 _“Since when were you the sentimental type?”_ Asked Edna.

“Well since our detour to Elysia at the latest.” Said Rose.

 _“You went back to Elysia?”_ Said Dezel.

“Yeah we should go back sometime, everyone misses you and they made a little grave for Mason.” Said Rose. She then pulled out a panacea bottle.

“Rose-!” Sergei started.

“We have a lot and we don’t use them so I don’t think they would mind if we left it here as an offering.” Said Rose. Just then they heard a child laughing and they turned. “Who’s there?” Rose snapped. They heard the laugh again.

“Who are you?” Sergei asked. A blue flame emitting malevolence appeared, the laughter came from the flame and it flickered out.

“Wh-What was that?” Said Rose.

 _“Oh shit.”_ Said Dezel.

“What?” Rose asked on edge.

 _“That’s a will-o’-wisp, or wisp for short.”_ Said Dezel.

“How is this a bad thing?” Sergei asked.

 _“Well according to Lailah they are rare undead type hellion but harmless by themselves. However they tend to work for stronger … much stronger undead hellions like a seasoned lich.”_ Dezel explained.

“Well if it’s a lich we’re after then we can do this.” Said Rose.

 _“Rose … he said **seasoned** lich so it will be far more powerful than I was.”_ Said Mikleo.

 _“What?”_ Growled Dezel.

 _“So you know how Meebo was a hellion? He was a actually baby lich when we met him.”_ Said Edna.

 _“Hey! Don’t make it sound like I wasn’t a threat, because if I recall correctly I nearly froze you all to death!”_ Snapped Mikleo.

 _“Only because you were unnaturally stubborn for a lich that young Lichleo.”_ Said Edna.

“Come on you two, we have a thing to do, lich or no we need to keep going and can’t stay here all day listening to you two argue.” Said Sergei. They continued onward and right after they left the tombstone they ran into another wisp imitating a child’s laughter before flickering out and then another and another. Then the wisps changed, no longer the laughter of a child but a woman’s whispery voice.

 _“Deva…”_ It called out.

“Dezel, what exactly are will-o’-wisps?” Rose asked as they heard another _“Devaa…”_ and continued, watching another wisp flicker out.

 _“I don’t know I don’t think Lailah even knew.”_ Said Dezel as they passed a wisp saying; _“Deva … Deva …”_ before flickering out. _“There are only guesses to what they could’ve been and stories of dead and lost travelers.”_

“So they might be spirits of those that got lost here and died?” Sergei asked as they passed a wisp now saying _“Gabriel?”_ and another wisp saying the same thing.

 _“That is one of the stories and I think the most popular.”_ Said Dezel as they passed more wisps repeating the names Deva and Gabriel as well as saying _“Sweetie,” “My love,” “darling,” “my friend,” “child,”_ and _“my baby”_ with the return of child’s laughter. Rose shivered.

“Any … other stories about wisps?” She asked.

 _“Well the others are pretty stupid sounding in my opinion, the first one being they are residue malevolence from dead dragons in church basements, or … hellionized shit from dead dragons in church basements, the other option is memories that got infused with malevolence.”_ Said Dezel.

“Yeah the dragon one does sound ridiculous.” Said Rose

 _“So the second one is basically Iris gems being corrupted by malevolence.”_ Said Edna. _“That is way too unlikely.”_

 _“How do you know?”_ Dezel asked.

 _“Well in a very strange turn of events my brother came home with several other companions covered in guts and gore for some reason and gave me a hug needless to say it ruined my dress and I ended up screaming when the kidney of one of his companions that was on his head for some fucked up reason fell on me.”_ Edna told as they passed even more talking and laughing wisps.

 _“What does this have to do with anything?”_ Mikleo asked.

 _“How rude Meebo I was getting to that.”_ Said Edna. _“Anyway that night we cooked dinner and his companions stayed for the night and started telling stories of their exploits and talking about time line mumbo jumbo for some reason, one of them told the story about an encounter with wisps and mentioned something about them being corrupted iris gems. Eizen said that it was impossible. This is because iris gems or the earthen historia, are bits and pieces of the earth pulse that surfaced and the earth pulse in ancient times has been known to have lots of malevolence or even transport malevolence and during those times the earthen historia has never been corrupted. Plus if it were the case if we defeated one we would see visions of the past that’s carved into the earth pulse, which doesn’t happen if you purify a wisp.”_

“So wisps are likely either dead dragon shit or dead, lost, travelers. Got it.” Said Rose. As more and more wisps started appearing, talking, then disappearing.

“Does the concentration of wisps mean that we’re getting closer to whatever they are working for?” Sergei asked.

 _“Pretty sure.”_ Said Dezel.

“Excellent, less trouble for us.” Said Rose. “With all these wisps around we’re probably really damn close to the source of the malevolence.” Just as Rose said that there was a swirl of blue flame that coalesced into a giant flaming ball with a glowing red eye that looked like a mix between organic material and a ruby with smaller flames surrounding it, a mix of will-o’-wisps and small versions of its eye. It snarled at them showing off its angler fish like teeth, not that any of them would know what an angler fish is. The seraphim came out and Mikleo was looking paler and was shaking and shivering more violently.

“Oh no …” Dezel groaned.

“What?” Said Rose and Sergei simultaneously.

“That’s a death tyrant.” Said Dezel. “In many ways they are worse than a seasoned lich.”

“…Perfect.” Said Rose.

“Worse how?” Sergei asked.

“Well they have larger domains for one. And they have complete control over wisps which unlike liches they will use them as part of an attack or to heal themselves.” Said Dezel.

“You know if we meet Lailah again I should thank her for turning you into a hellion encyclopedi-AAAAAAH!” She shrieked as she got zapped by one of the death tyrant’s gem eyes basting her straight into a tree.

“You know I don’t like to admit it but Muse is right when she says that we talk too much in battle.” Said Edna then promptly batting away a wisp.

“Luzrov Rulay!” Rose shouted then armatizing with Mikleo. “Two can play at the beam game you flaming eyeball!”

 _“Rose they’re arrows not beams!”_ Mikleo snapped.

“They do the same damn thing!” Rose shouted. “Blue Flurry!” and a beam like arrow shot at the hellion only to have little effect.

“Sonic thrust!” Sergei shouted stabbing into the hellion but its eye shot fire at him blasting him back and the wisps ended up swarming him and he swatted at them to get to the big flaming eyeball but he quickly learned that the small hellions would quickly recover and continuously come back at him. Edna and Dezel were similarly distracted with the wisps, whacking them with an umbrella and wiping them with pendulums respectively.

“Saint’s arrow!” Rose and Mikleo shouted shooting the death tyrant square in the eye which very much irritated it causing it to roar, or more accurately garglely scream, at the wisps which in turn surrounded Mikleo and Rose.

“Thank you!” Edna called.

“Hey Mikleo should I give her the bird?” Rose muttered.

 _“Um uh … wha-  n … no. Not now!”_ Said Mikleo.

“Fine.” She grumbled with the wisps surrounding her. “Got an- ow! Plan?” She asked as some wisps got close to her and burned her while being too preoccupied with well beating away some of the other wisps.

 _“I’m working on it!”_  Mikleo snapped. Meanwhile the other three were whittling away at the death tyrant, or rather trying to. Despite the size of the hellion it was very agile and could counter with one of its eye gems ready to shoot a beam at whoever hit it. And that whoever typically ended up being Sergei as he managed to get close enough to slash the body just falling short of the eye. And they figured out quickly that each beam that each eye shot out produces a different effect. As Sergei has been stunned, burned, paralyzed, somehow poisoned, frozen, and instantly knocked out. Causing the other two seraphs to use up panacea and life bottles as their healing artes can’t cure those ailments.

“Glad we found these lying on the ground for some reason on the way here.” Said Dezel.

“You said it.” Said Edna casting another arte, “Rock lance!” a rock spear jutted out of the ground but the hellion avoided it. Dezel then ran up to it and tried to whip it with his pendulums, with special emphasis on tried, but the Death tyrant kept dodging his attacks even the one that involves swinging the pendulum down and hard on the hellion that he called ‘high strike.’

“Get the hell back here you piece of shit!” Said Dezel through his teeth. “Why is Sergei the only one that’s hitting you?!” And just as he said that Sergei hit its back. Without looking the death tyrant had one of his mini eyes zap Sergei knocking him back. Meanwhile Rose was still smacking wisps away with her bow wile may more would approach and burn her.

 _“Rose use bubble arrow!”_ Mikleo shouted.

“Really? Ow!” Said Rose as another wisp burned her.

 _“I have something else in mind but we need to get out of here and that’s the quickest arte we can cast.”_ Said Mikleo.

“Fair enough.” Said Rose. “Open the floodgates …” They then chanted, “bubble arrow!” they then shot out an arrow that converted into three water spheres that came into contact with the wisps causing them to explode extinguishing them. Rose then ran out of the ring of the remaining wisps. However the wisps multiplied again. “So what’s this plan of yours?” Rose asked.

 _“Well we need to use seraphic artes that cover large areas.”_ Said Mikleo.

“Like the one we somehow learned when I punched a hellhound?” Rose asked.

 _“The very one.”_ Said Mikleo.

“All right!” Said Rose. She then backed further away then pointed an arrow to the sky. “Pierce the sky… Arrow squall! Everyone look out!” They chanted then shooting the arrow into the sky while their allies ran and took cover. Several energy bolts rained down onto the death tyrant and the wisps extinguishing the remaining wisps and leaving a few holes in death tyrant. The hellion snarled then shrieked summoning more wisps. Some of them went to the death tyrant regenerating it.

 _“Goddammit!”_ Shouted Mikleo.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Rose shouted at the same time.

“I think you’re somewhere with this!” Dezel shouted.

“All right, everyone but Sergei, use artes that you know can hit multiple targets and try not to hit allies.” Ordered Rose. “Sergei … keep doing what you’ve been doing.”

“…Kay.” Said Sergei.

“If that’s the case Rose, switch with me.” Said Edna.

“Huh?” Said Rose.

“Asides from my healing artes I don’t have any artes that can target multiple enimies, I need to armatize with you for that.” Said Edna.

 _“Don’t worry Rose, I have artes that can hit multiple enemies.”_ Said Mikleo.

“All right, Hepshin Yulind!” Rose shouted causing her and Mikleo to separate and her to fuse with Edna. Everyone but Sergei went to the perimeter of where the hellions were clustered and started casting their artes while Sergei just charged in and hit whatever he could and run out of the way of any incoming seraphic arte. A while later the death tyrant was became nothing more than its main eye and it fell to the ground. Rose dearmatized and went up to the hellion remains and started jabbing it. “C’mon … purify!” She said. Not noticing the stray wisp to her right going up to her.

“Rose!” Sergei and Dezel shouted.

“What?” She said turning to the two just as the wisp got to the death tyrant. The eye started charging something. The two men ran towards her with Dezel pushing her out of the way as they got shot by beam blasting them into two trees, breaking the first one. Rose snapped her head then stabbed the death tyrant causing the malevolence to fade. Mikleo ran to the men that were on the ground. Sergei laid unconscious while Dezel groaned and got to his knees.

“You all right?” He asked.

“I’ll live.” Dezel groaned. Mikleo then quickly healed Dezel and went over to Sergei and started healing him and by then Rose had ran over to them with Edna walking behind.

“Did you see the wisp?” She asked. She didn’t get an answer. “Rose. Did you see the wisp?” No answer. “Did. You. See. The. Wisp?” Still no answer. “Rose!” She snapped, though her voice was marginally louder, “Did you or didn’t you see the stupid wisp? Tell me!”

“…No.” Rose replied.

“Why didn’t you?” Edna asked. Rose didn’t answer. “Rose!”

“She’s having vision problems in her right eye.” Dezel replied. Edna looked horrified for a moment then looked to Rose.

“When did this happen?” She asked with a bit of a growl in her voice. “How long has this been going on?”

“Since the prison break, only when Sergei’s around.” Rose admitted.

“So you’re saying the squire’s pact has side-effects right?” Edna asked.

“… Yeah.” Said Rose.

“… Only with low resonance squires.” Dezel added.

“Why didn’t you say this before?” Edna asked losing her usual dry tone. Both were quiet. “Did you think ‘oh Edna here is a prime lord she makes people Shepherds she knows nearly everything on what to do and the shit that comes with being a shepherd. So she should know something about squires!’ Did you remember that I am just as stupid about being a prime lord as you are being a shepherd Rose? Have you even considered that maybe just maybe I was dumped with the job while the original Lady of the Lake is running around doing fuck knows holding something that wasn’t hers? That maybe there aren’t resources on this shit because a lot of books and information that I could access don’t say jack shit about squires or the side-effects that can happen?” Now yelling at her.

“I was hoping that we’d cut off the pact when this is over.” Said Rose. “I didn’t want anyone, Sergei especially, to know about this because fussing about it would be more trouble than it’s worth.”

“You know for someone who ranted to me about communication, you sure don’t practice what you preach.” Said Mikleo as calmly as he could. “Regardless if you wanted to protect Sergei or not your negligence and refusal to tell anyone but Dezel about this nearly got him and Sergei killed fifteen minutes ago.”

“Well I’m not dead.” Said Dezel. “She only did it because she thought the death tyrant would be quick so she could leave Sergei right after that. And if you’re gonna give her shit about not talking about her eye you should give it to me too because I’m just as guilty!”

“…Rose …” They heard Sergei groan. They look over to him with Mikleo still healing him. “You don’t … have to keep secrets from me. I’ll be fine if you need to cut off the squire’s pact for your own health.” Everyone was quiet until Mikleo finished healing Sergei.

“Let’s head back to Marlind before we cut off the pact.” Said Rose. They then walked back to Marlind silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well we are reaching the end of the Marlind Arc and we're gonna have to say goodbye to Sergei soon. Not forever but he will be gone for a long while, longer than Dezel as he has his own things to do.  
> As for Edna's little Eizen story I should probably write something that would help explain why he's not a dragon here. Though in story whether he's a live or not is a different matter.  
> And I was weak with Lichleo. I really wanted to put that in somewhere.


	24. Crashing Information

Chapter 24: Crashing Information

_“Mikleo, how are you doing?”_ Dezel asked breaking the silence.

_“I’m fine.”_ Said Mikleo.

_“Have you stopped shivering?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“Have any idea what caused it?”_

_“I have a theory.”_ Said Mikleo. _“I think it was the death tyrant, like while we were fighting it I felt extremely cold even though we’re around flaming hellions and I had to pretend it didn’t affect me out of necessity. And I think that because I was an undead type hellion for a while I think I’m sensitive to malevolence produced by undead hellions.”_

_“You might be onto something. When we fought the echidna and when I was with Lailah, whenever we found a snake hellion that we ended up running from, I felt lightheaded.”_ Said Dezel. _“But I mostly ignored it.”_

_“So seraphim who have previously turned into hellions are particularly sensitive to the type of hellion they turned into. Interesting.”_ Said Edna.

“Rose, what do you plan to do after we part?” Sergei asked.

“Well I’m gonna check in with Lucas first. Then most likely head to Rolance. Malevolence is everywhere after all and that includes Rolance.” Said Rose. “What about you?”

“Well maybe get my brother out of prison, and I promised Atakk that I would help with museum restorations and even if Marlind is recovering from the plague I’m still gonna be stationed there for a little longer.” Said Sergei.

“Shame though. If you didn’t give me eye problems and you didn’t have plans I would’ve loved to travel with you more.” Said Rose.

“Same. And Rose.” Said Sergei, Rose turned around. “Thanks for everything.”

“I should be saying the same thing.” Said Rose. “Thanks. I’ve wouldn’t’ve made it this far if it weren’t for your help.”

_“Get a room you two.”_ Said Edna.

_“I swear to god if you two kiss I will puke.”_ Said Dezel.

_“Don’t get too sentimental it’s not like you two will never see each other again.”_ Said Mikleo. When the group got back to Marlind Sergei and Rose separated. Rose walked through Marlind until she met up with Lucas close to the tree.

“Oh hey there Shepherd’s pie.” He said as she approached.

“Sup Lumberjack.” Rose replied. “Everything went well?”

“Yeah, it all managed to work out. There were no troubles and we managed to ignore anything from your personal bullshit.” Said Lucas.

“So what are you gonna do?” Rose asked.

“We’ve been set up for another job in the capital so we’re gonna be heading out.” Said Lucas.

“Nice.” Said Rose. “Well best of luck.”

“Same to you.” Said Lucas. She then went to the tree where Rohan and Atakk were.

“Ah, Shepherd.” Said Rohan.

“Hey yer back!” Said Atakk.

“Yeah, how are things here?” Rose asked.

“Take a look.” Said Rohan. Rose turned to see people in front of the tree, praying. “Thanks to you my blessing has returned and people are getting better and slowly people are going back to worshipping the tree.”

“What we needed to do.” Said Edna. “So we don’t really have a reason to stay here.”

“Aw yer leavin’?” Atakk asked.

“Yeah, we’re gonna leave tomorrow for Rolance.” Said Rose.

“Very well, safe travels.” Said Rohan.

“Come back soon! I’ll be rootin’ fer ya!” Said Atakk.

“Thanks.” Said Rose. She left the seraphim and shortly after she ran into Muse.

“Hello sweetie, is your job going well?” She asked.

“Hi mom.” Greeted Rose. “Yeah it’s been going well.”

“I can’t believe they’re still saying that lie.” Said Dezel. “How the hell is that fooling anyone?”

“With charisma and charm Dezel.” Said Muse.

“Wait. Do you know all my seraphim’s names?” Rose asked.

“Indeed I do.” Muse confirmed.

“Of course she knows she’s probably been spying on us and listening to us.” Said Edna.

“Not completely true. I did that for you Edna. As for Dezel and Mikleo … I have other ways.” Said Muse.

“About that … can I ask you something?” Mikleo asked.

“All right but we’ll have to save that for the inn.” Said Muse. “So how did your little hellion excursion go?”

“Well I was having vision troubles that nearly got Sergei and Dezel killed.” Rose said bluntly.

“That normally shouldn’t happen unless your squire has low resonance.” Said Muse. “In that case you have to either just separate yourself from your squire or find a squire that has high resonance.”

“Hey, Sergei can at least sense seraphim on his own.” Rose defended. “And you don’t have to worry about that anymore, we ended up parting ways as soon as we got to town.”

“Well that’s a relief, unfortunate, but a relief.” Said Muse.

“Muse, since I’m squire less and you likely have very high resonance would you like to be my squire?” Rose asked rather dryly.

“You’re twenty years too late.” Said Muse. “While yes I do have high resonance I simply can’t due to having other commitments. But I do know someone who might fit the bill, and I suspect that he’ll do more than just not blind you.”

“How much more?” Rose asked.

“He might just be able to armatize.” Said Muse.

“Squires can do that?” Rose said freezing temporarily.

“Yes. Provided that they have high resonance, are in the squire’s contract or serving as a vessel for a seraph, either one works, and have the consent from the seraphim.” Said Muse.

“What happens if you don’t have either of those three?” Rose asked.

“Well with the former two you just won’t armatize, the last one the armatus will instantly fall apart with plenty of harm done to the squire’s, or shepherd’s, pride.” Said Muse.

“So about armitization does it come with any side effects other than your pride getting smashed if you instantly separate?” Rose asked.

“So you’ve been using the armatus without considering that it could kill you or learning much information about it? Wow.” Said Edna.

“Oh it’s not like you’d know anything about it.” Said Mikleo.

“Well that’s about it.” Said Muse. “Though if you get hurt the seraph you fused with will also get hurt so you need to be a bit careful while you’re fighting if you’re using the armatus. Other than that you’ll be fine.”

“So who is this guy that you think might be a good squire and armatize?” Rose asked.

“Sorey.” Said Muse.

“No.” Said Rose.

“That’s a mistake.” Said Muse.

“Muse, he gets sick often, so when that happens he’ll cause major setbacks, like you he has obligations to the guild, and he’ll limit the destinations that we can go to in the interests of keeping him healthy.” Said Rose.

“He has a lot of potential, on par with you Rose, and if you had recruited him earlier you probably would’ve kept Sergei around for longer, not that you could stop him from his other duties but having him around would’ve lessened the impact of Sergei’s relatively low resonance.” Said Muse.

“What?” Said Rose.

“That is another thing about squires, besides being assistants to the Shepherd and the purification process high resonant squires act as a buffer between the Shepherd and the low resonant squires.” Said Muse. “This is why the S.H.I.T.S. was actually mostly squires to help make sure the low resonant squires don’t strain the Shepherd.”

“The S.H.I.T.S. were mostly squires?” Rose asked.

“Probably should’ve mentioned that when we were in Lady Lake.” Said Muse. “But yes the S.H.I.T.S. was indeed mostly human and most of those humans were squires. And yes it was mostly to help out the Shepherd’s dearest friend see the seraphim and eventually armatize.”

“So this buffering can eventually have a low resonant squire able to use the armatus?” Rose asked Edna looked at Muse just as surprised.

“It would take years but yeah, it’s possible.” Said Muse with a shrug.

“Still not convincing me to take Sorey along.” Said Rose.

“… Oh all right.” Muse sighed as they got to the inn. They went up to the front desk.

“Let me pay for this.” Said Muse.

“Mom, you have whole guild that’s most likely not gonna be staying here. I can pay for my own room.” Said Rose.

“… Can I help you two?” The innkeeper asked.

“Yeah, just one room with a single bed oh and I’ll be having meals with that.” Said Rose.

“All right that will be 500 gald.” Said the innkeeper. Rose handed over the gald. “And for you miss?” He asked Muse.

“I’m with her, and I’m just here to have a private talk with her about … job security.” Said Muse.

“All right but if you end up staying with your daughter you’re gonna have to pay 500 gald as well.” Said the innkeeper.

“I promise I won’t be long.” Said Muse. When they got to the room the two women sat on the bed. “What do you plan to do after this?”

“Well I’m considering going to Rolance tomorrow.” Said Rose.

“That would be good. And you better get through Glaivend Basin quickly with war approaching.” Said Muse.

“So things aren’t going well between Hyland and Rolance?” Rose asked.

“Yeah they’ve been at opposition for years so conflict has been boiling up and it’s about to reach a breaking point.” Said Muse. “Wars get ugly to say the least and it’s best that you stay out of it until it cools down.” They were quiet for a while. “By the way before you go I suggest stopping by the sanctuary because they dropped off an Iris gem. If anything it would give you insight on what’s going on. Just saying.”

“Well we’ve been collecting them, so we’ll do that.” Said Rose.

“All right.” Said Muse. She then turned to Mikleo. “What did you want to ask me?” He looked to the ground and didn’t reply. “Mikleo?”

“Are …” Mikleo began. He then fell silent again. Muse tilted her head. “Are you my mother?” They were silent for a while.

“…Yes.” Said Muse. Everyone was silent for another moment before Dezel spoke.

“Mikleo … aren’t you a seraph?” Dezel asked.

“The two do look oddly similar ...” Said Rose. “But … yeah …”

“Seraphim can be born from pure dead humans.” Said Edna. “If he has a human mother that means Meebo here died and came back.”

“Yeah … he did. In the same event where I lost my brother, my dearest friend, was left taking care of Sorey, and that lead me to create the Scattered Bones.” Said Muse in a low voice. “Of those I lost that day only one came back as Seraph with my baby boy they were found by Zenrus and Lailah.” Dezel’s eyebrows raised and snapped head toward where he heard Muse’s voice.

“You know Lailah?” He asked. Muse didn’t reply but continued with her story.

“They took them home and Zenrus agreed to help raise my son and Sorey. Lailah left and the other seraph stayed with me and Zenrus rather catatonic. Months passed and Mikleo turned one in that time and I gave him my circlet. But one day the other Seraph disappeared with Mikleo. While starting up the double act of the Light Sparks and Scattered Bones I looked for my son. I searched almost the whole continent for him but could never find him. I kept going off of local ghost stories in hopes of finding my son but all of my leads went cold. Sometimes I thought that they left the continent or they died on Rayfalke from the rumored dragon dwelling there though those thoughts proved me wrong when I saw you in Ladylake for the first time in years.” Said Muse. Mikleo gave her an absolutely lost and heartbroken look. “Mikleo …” She started again. He didn’t reply instead he took off the circlet that was hiding under his hair.

“I chewed on this thing so much as a kid and hid it from Bahamut because he’d get mad when he saw this.” He said quietly. Muse looked at him confused at the name ‘Bahamut.’ “This was yours?”

“Yes.” Said Muse.

“Why?” Mikleo asked.

“Because I care so much about you.” Said Muse. “I know I missed you growing up, I only raised you for a year, and that I am a very twofaced assassin. I know you are under no obligation to love me back, but even so I never stopped loving you and hoping to see you again Mikleo.”

“Probably why despite your profession and all the sins you’ve committed you haven’t succumbed to malevolence.” Said Edna. Mikleo clenched onto the circlet and held it close to his chest.

“I don’t know how to feel.” He admits. “I know you said that I don’t have to love you back because you’re a murderer but you telling me that you’ve always loved me makes it so much harder. I don’t … I just don’t know what to do.”

“Then don’t decide now Mikleo.” Said Dezel. “Start over and take time to know each other. Because from where I’m standing neither of you know each other because of the time you’ve been separated. Once you’ve feel like you’ve known her well enough decide whether or not you love your mother back.”

“All right.” Said Mikleo.

“I think that’s agreeable.” Said Muse then getting up from the bed. “I need to get back to the guild.” She left the room. Rose then lay back on the bed.

“Rose.” Said Dezel.

“Yeah?” Said Rose.

“How’s your eye?”

“Since we parted with Sergei it’s been better.” Said Rose. “Let’s get some rest, from the sounds of it we can’t take time staying here with war starting to brew.”  So they ate and slept at the inn and at the next morning the went to the sanctuary now back to its original use with the morning mass in session with Father Kailen, preaching to the worshippers one of whom she recognizes as Neif.

“Our town may just now be getting back on its feet but let’s not forget to have faith in the seraphim especially now when faith is most important.” Father Kailen preached. “But know that just mere faith will not help the seraphim but our actions as well. We need to be like the Shepherd and show the seraphim that we are worth giving blessings to and maintaining their vessels and places of worship.” Rose stood in the back of the sanctuary and went off to the side as the father talked. Edna came out and leaned against a wall fumbling with the closed umbrella in her hands.

“Oh if only they knew you better.” Said Edna. Rose scowled at the earth seraph. They waited in the back of the church until mass was over and many people left the sanctuary. She then went up to Father Kailen.

“Shepherd, I saw you in the back today. How was the sermon?” He asked.

“Uuuuuh … okay.” Said Rose. “Father Kailen I heard that an Iris gem was donated here.”

“Yes. It’s on the altar.” He said.

“Do you mind if I borrow it for a bit?” Rose asked.

“Touch it and look at it.” Said Father Kailen. “Take it and I’ll have the guards after you.”

“Yeesh for someone preaching about being like you he sure is harsh.” Said Edna.

“Maybe he heard you.” Rose muttered under her breath.

“Keep dreaming Rose.” Said Edna. They went up to the altar where the Iris gem laid just as Father Kailen said and the other two seraphim came out. Rose touched the Iris gem.

_The same blond man from the first gem but lacked the beard and looked several years younger than he did there was trying to console a woman in her bed. A maid came in to switch out the bloody sheets and the man snapped at her to leave them alone for a while longer. Some time passed and the man and woman were at a small grave where they left flowers and had “May this little one learn to fly” engraved on the tombstone. They started walking away assumingly on their way home though the streets of a city. Then a rather dirty looking, brown haired, green eyed, little girl crashed into the man. He only stumbled over while she fell flat on her face. The woman looked at him as if to say ‘don’t do it.’ But he ignored her look and knelt down to the girl. He helped the girl get up and took out a handkerchief and whipped off the dirt and blood of her face taking extra care with her nose. He then asked if she was okay and she nodded. He then told her something and left with the woman._

“Hey Mikleo isn’t that the guy from the gem you gave us?” Rose asked as she withdrew her hand.

“Yeah looks like but at least ten years younger.” Said Mikleo.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Said Dezel.

“Oh right you weren’t there when Mikleo gave us an iris gem.” Said Rose.

“And I’m blind.” Said Dezel.

“That too.” Said Rose. “Well anyway long story short Iris gems give us visions of the past. This is the fourth one we’ve come across.”

“… Okay.” Said Dezel. “Is there any reason these gems are giving you visions?”

“I dunno I just figure they’re parts of our world’s past and it just happens whenever you touch them.” Shrugged Rose.

“So what did you get this time?” Dezel asked.

“Well a man, presumably rich as he had a maid was trying to comfort someone who I guess was his wife but what do I know about rich people, she could be his sister for all I know.” Said Rose. “Then they run into a little girl.”

“Well there was a little more than that.” Said Mikleo.

“How so?” Dezel asked.

“The couple or at the very least the woman lost a child, likely through a miscarriage.” Said Edna rather bluntly. “The little girl that ran into them likely reminded the man of the child, or what the child could’ve been.”

“Were the other Iris gems related to this?” Dezel asked.

“Not really. Well aside the one that Mikleo gave us where the same man was being told something by a woman who actually … now that I think about it she looks like the little girl all grown up with someone who I guess is her husband.” Said Rose.

“So whatever the relationship was between the two we can assume that they remained close.” Said Dezel.

“Yeah that’s what I figure too. Though there’s something rather familiar about that girl.” Said Mikleo.

“Would she be someone you knew as a human?” Dezel asked.

“Weren’t you listening to Muse? I was a baby when I … died and became a seraph so I don’t remember anything when I was human.” Said Mikleo. “It’s more likely that she looks like someone we’ve met. In fact … that’s been a common thread with the Iris gems so far.”

“Now that you mention it, every person that we’ve seen in an Iris gem either looks like someone we know or we just know them.” Said Rose. “The first and current one you seem to think are familiar Mikleo. The one we found in the Galahad ruins I thought a hat that someone wore looked familiar while Mikleo thought the same on someone else, and the one we found while conducting a prison break actually had Lailah in it.”

“Really?” Dezel questioned.

“Yeah she was lecturing a guy who ends up writing the Celestial Record to go to sleep.” Said Rose.

“My guess is that particular set of Iris gems takes place within the last twenty years.” Said Edna.

“Why do you say that?” Rose asked.

“Because the Celestial Record was written only roughly twenty years ago by a relatively young man that had a thing for ruins. Since I started seeing that around that time.” Said Edna.

“Okay so in terms of time lining these Iris gems the Orange ones are around twenty years ago, and the others are at an indeterminate time right now.” Said Mikleo.

“Sounds about right.” Said Edna.

“Okay you’ve seen the Iris gem and you’ve been told to not take it by Father Kailen. We’ve done all we could here and we need to get going soon. If Muse is right then tensions are getting close to a boiling point and we should hurry if we’re going to avoid the war.” Said Dezel.

“Fine! Let’s leave and then talk about the time line of the Iris gems.” Said Rose. They left the sanctuary and started for Marlind’s southern gate when they ran into Sorey and Mary Jane walking with a wounded soldier with Zenrus behind them holding onto the reigns of his horse. “Hey what happened?” She asked. “And are you sure that you should be here Sorey?”

“Friend of yours?” Mary Jane questioned. Rose nodded to her.

“The town’s recovering and most of the plague is gone. I’ll be fine.” Sorey replied. “But we found him at the outskirts nearly falling off his horse. Mary Jane managed to stop the bleeding but that’s the most she could do.”

“I …” The soldier began. “I need … to get to the capital…”

“No! You’re too injured to go anywhere!”  Said Sorey.

“Please … I have a message …” Said the soldier. “Rolance … The Rolance Empire … is … is attacking!”

“What?!” Exclaimed Dezel.

“Shit.” Rose muttered under her breath.

“Looks like the war has begun.” Said Edna looking to the side and twirling her umbrella. “So much for skipping it.”

“Please … tell this to the people of Marlind … I need to get to the capital.” Said the soldier.

“I don’t think so.” Said Mary Jane. “You may not be bleeding but you’re still hurt. We’re getting you to someone that can treat you.”

“So you can’t…” Rose started.

“I’ve only specialized with pregnancies and illicit drug making. I can’t do anything about battle trauma.” Said Mary Jane.

“Let me go … there’s no time to waste!” Said the soldier.

“Sorey, do you know if either Hyland’s Military or the Light Sparks have any messenger animals?” Rose asked.

“We don’t have any carrier pigeons or sylphjays so we can’t relay any messages. Hyland’s Military might have something even if it’s another soldier that can ride out.” Said Sorey.

“Great! Can you go tell some of the soldiers here while I tell the people after helping out Mary Jane?” Rose asked.

“Why? I’m already helping her out.” Said Sorey.

“Because a certain Kendra Ferron started instantly hating me as soon as she met me.” Said Rose. Sorey gave her a blank stare. He then face palmed and groaned.

“Oh my god what did you do?”

“Just hang out with Sergei and insulted her crush some.” Said Rose.

“Is that what we’re calling Bartlow now?” Mikleo asked.

“Meebo she called him the smartest and greatest man she’s ever known.” Said Edna. “If that’s not indicative of a crush … albeit a creepy one then I don’t know what is.”

“The guy we’re talking to and our water seraph.” Said Dezel. “Though far less creepy.”

“Fair point.” Said Edna.

“Okay okay fine, my blatantly obvious crush on your water seraph friend aside, I’ll just go find Sergei or someone and tell them about the just started war and have them send someone while you help Mary Jane.” Sorey snapped. He and Rose traded places and rushed off.  They started walking.

“So can you still see or hear seraphim after you’ve been purified?” Rose asked.

“Not really. That boy mentioning his crush seems out of nowhere and ultimately confusing.” Said Mary Jane, “I have an idea that they’re there but I can’t really sense them.”

“You were thinking of making her a squire weren’t you?” Edna asked.

“You all know I have objections to bringing a sick boy along.” Said Rose.

“It is a valid concern if you’re referring to Sorey.” Said Zenrus. “The boy might not have the twelve year sickness but he has a rather unknown and unpredictable illness that’s plagued him all his life. It oddly acted like the twelve year sickness when he was younger but now it’s primarily unpredictable spells of coughing fits and a sudden inability to breathe which will take him out for several days. So being unwilling to have him as a squire is justified.”

“See?” Said Rose gesturing vaguely over to Zenrus.

“No.” Said Mary Jane.

“I wasn’t talking to you…” Said Rose.

“Ah yes, the seraphim.” She said, she then tugged the soldier and Rose in the direction of the sanctuary.

“Think someone will help there?” Rose asked.

“Father Kailen namely, for the last few years he’s been the one to go to for rather serious injuries.” Said Mary Jane. “He may not be able to heal this guy completely but there isn’t an injury that he hasn’t treated yet.”

“Really.” Said Rose.

“Yeah, they say that he previously studied battle field medicine.” She said. They got to the sanctuary when Mary Jane lifted the soldier off of Rose. “I’ll take care of it from here.”

“Kay.” Said Rose running off and grabbing the shoulder of the nearest person. “Hey, I heard the war just started up. Maybe we should evacuate.”

“What?!” The person exclaimed.

“Calm down! I said that there’s a war going on and it’s possible that Marlind might get caught up in the crossfire can you please help me spread the word and not panic?” Rose asked.

“You’re asking a lot.” They said.

“Yes I know but can you please help me with this? I’m pretty damn sure I can’t cover all of Marlind on my own.” Said Rose.

“Okay, I’ll spread the word and I’ll try not to panic.” They said before walking off. Rose then went to another person telling them the same thing and trying to get them to calm down and help her with spreading word of the war and repeated the same process with the next person and the one after that. That is until she got to near the tree where Lucas was with his men.

“All right boys! Playtime is over, let’s show those frou-frous in the capital what we’re made of!” He shouted. His men shouted as well. Rose looked to the ground and back to Lucas and his men.

“You’re thinking of going aren’t you?” Dezel asked.

“Well yeah. I can’t let some rather unaffiliated group get slaughtered.” Said Rose.

“If I were you I wouldn’t.” They heard someone say. Rose turned to see Muse standing nearby.

“If the Shepherd enters a war then the side that they lend help to will definitely be victorious.” Said Muse.

“And what’s the problem with that?” Rose asked.

“Well there’s no guarantee that you’ll come out untainted and it might cause malevolence for any other party involved.” Said Muse.

“So are you saying that we should just watch?” Mikleo asked with both concern and anxiety in his voice.

“Yep.” Said Edna. “Your mother might be a cocky know it all but it really isn’t our place to get involved with the war. We have to let humans find a compromise for themselves.”

“But we can save people.” Said Rose.

“Rose? Did you hear her when she said that there’s no guarantee that you won’t come out untainted?” Dezel asked.

“Well people from Hyland.” Muse corrected.

“So Rolance wouldn’t be so lucky, right?” Said Mikleo.

“That’s right.” Said Muse with a smile and a slightly more cheery tone.

“It’s war.” Shrugged Edna. “It knows neither justice nor malice.”

“Rose I know you’re relying on your base instincts and you’ve been doing this often.” Said Muse. “But sometimes you can’t do that because you can’t follow your every impulse as the Shepherd. If you keep relying on whatever your gut tells you it can have serious consequences not only to you and your seraph comrades but every person you’ve come in contact with and quite possibly the world.”

“… Fine…” Rose groaned through her teeth. “But would it be all right to ask Lucas to take refuge with the villagers?”

“I’m pretty sure there’s nothing against Shepherds calling for evacuations.” Said Muse.

“Thanks.” Said Rose then going up to the Woodsmen. “Heeeey Lucas! Whaddup man?” Lucas rolled his eyes and gave a very long sigh.

“What soldier did you piss off this time?” He asked.

“Nothing like that!” Rose claimed. “I just want you and your boys to seek refuge with the villagers.”

“You’re joking right?” He asked.

“Dead serious.” Said Rose.

“Shepherd, we’re mercenaries, we make our living on the battle field through whoever party pays us.” He said. “And we just helped restore this town, do you really want to see Rolance to tear it apart?”

“You’re technically unaffiliated with either army for one.” Said Rose. “Yes, you might get a Hylandian employers to help you out with the war and it would be a big benefit for your men from Hyland as they’re gonna be praised as heroes. But would that really be fair to your men from Rolance who mind you are going to be asked to slaughter their former family, friends, and neighbors?”

“You’re getting off topic Shepherd.” Said Lucas.

“Answer my question.” Said Rose. Lucas paused for a second.

“Fine. We’ll withdraw beyond Griflet River.” He said. “But it’s a goddamn shame. We’re just gonna abandon this town after it’s getting its spark back.”

“Marlind can be rebuilt. People can’t.” Said Rose.

“Hmph. Guess I can’t argue with that.” Said Lucas. He turned back to his men. “Change of plans we’re taking the town’s folk and heading to Griflet River. Get your preparations in order!” He then looked back to Rose. “I suggest you get ready as well. Griflet Bridge still hasn’t been completely restored so we’re gonna have to camp by the banks.”

“I’d say I’ll be all right. Let’s go.” Said Rose. She started walking to the northern entrance.

“Hm. Appealing to his humanity huh.” Said Edna. “I didn’t expect that coming from you.”

“I just thought they’re mercenaries, they get jobs from whoever’s hiring so they must travel a lot and when you travel a lot you’re bound to pick up men from both countries participating in the war.” Said Rose.

“In other words appealing to his humanity.” Said Edna.

“Hey! We’re both human. So I figured I’d try to appeal to the thing we have in common.” Said Rose as they waited at Marlind’s entrance looking at the people leaving the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends the Marlind Arc which was half the size of the Lady Lake arc with what is effectively a filler chapter. And here comes the stuff I've been actually looking forward to writing, the encounter of the Lord of Calamity and Sorey joining the party. Though admittingly the stuff about the armatus being harmless though only your pride getting hurt is something I wanted to write out of pure spite for the anime, just like the making fun of the dragon corpse in churches aspect from the last chapter.


	25. War

Chapter 25: War

Rose made sure she was the last one to leave Marlind as she watched all the other townsfolk leave. They headed to the Griflet Bridge where everyone was stopped. She pushed through the crowd to the front where Lucas was and the crowd was stopped by some of Hyland’s soldiers.

“What’s going on?” Rose asked.

“Well we got stopped because these guys were looking for you.” Said Lucas. A man decked out in medals with his hair slicked back and a scar down one eye keeping it permanently closed rode up on a black horse similarly decorated.

“I am General Landon of the Hyland army is the Shepherd with you?” He demanded. Rose stepped forward.

“What do you want?” She asked.

“Hm. You huh?” He said.

“Does your audience with the Shepherd require so many troops Landon?” Lucas asked.

“You’re that sell-sword Lucas of the … Shrub boys-?” Landon started.

“Yo they’re fucking men.” Interrupted Rose.

“Whatever.” Said Landon. “In any case I have word on Captain Sergei.” He signaled a soldier to come forward. The soldier took out a paper and read from it,

_“On suspicion of drug allegations and for the mass prison break taking place about a week ago as well as being involved with the attempted assassination on Lord Bartlow conducted by his brother, Boris, Captain Sergei Strelka has been detained until further notice.”_

“Well this stinks to high heaven.” Said Edna.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Said Dezel.

“How the fu-?” Rose started before catching herself. “That’s bullshit! There are eye witnesses in the chamber, Boris attacked on his own accord with Sergei not being involved! He tried to stop Boris but he pushed him aside and I ended up blocking his blade!” The soldier jumped back out of shock.

“That still leaves for the prison break and his possible drug allegations.” Said Landon. “This isn’t an arrest but an interrogation to see if he’s been hiding any powder.”

“Which is also stupid he’s a soldier, I don’t think it’s allowed for soldier to be doped up on powder plus where the fuck would he hide that anyway?” Rose argued. “The barracks are full of people constantly watching. Plus if he tried to perform a prison break I don’t think any of the prisoners would comply as he arrested half of them!”

“Will you stop being so argumentative for two seconds?” Landon snapped. “Regardless on how innocent you feel he is, charges are charges. We’ll be willing to let him go if you use your power to lend victory to our troops.”

“Wouldn’t you be more efficient if you just stripped Sergei, throw him into the middle of the battlefield and release Boris on your enemy? I bet with his rage and the fact that the guys just lost their father would have him you would win very easily just through Boris’s sheer anger about his brother being in trouble!” Rose argued.

“Oh my god …” Landon groaned. “Shepherd. This doesn’t just apply to Sergei but it applies to you as well. About a week ago you were seen acting rather suspiciously around the time of the major prison break. Plus in town you were seen with a known local powder synthesizer and dealer. Bring her forward.” Two soldiers walked up with a struggling Mary Jane both of them holding her hands behind her back.

“Let go of me!” She hissed glaring at both of the soldiers.

“Shit.” Rose muttered.

“Here’s the deal. The arrest doesn’t just apply to Sergei but it also applies to you as well.” Said Landon. “If you were to come with us, and fight with us, all of your allegations will be dropped and she goes free.”

“What happens if I refuse?” Rose asked.

“She’ll die, Sergei will likely be asked to leave the military, and you’ll be branded as an enemy of the state.” Stated Landon.

“That son of a bitch.” Growled Dezel.

“We’re gonna have to do as he says.” Said Edna. “Even if you end up unaffected by Sergei losing his job if Mary Jane ends up dying because of your prison stunt and merely being associated with you …”

“Then she’ll end up likely either blaming herself or lashing out in revenge against Hyland. And a Shepherd like Rose will succumb to malevolence … or will just get killed.” Said Mikleo.

“That’s correct Meebo. If she is corrupted by Malevolence the world will go to ruin faster than any war can accomplish. Or we’re gonna be stuck looking for another Shepherd which is a different problem because there are very few people with resonance on par with her creating a different set of problems.” Said Edna closing her umbrella.

“Fuck …” Dezel muttered. “Let’s get this over with.”

“If I fight with you will you let Mary Jane go, and release any and all suspicion Sergei and I have concerning about the prison break and other drug related charges?” Rose asked.

“If we have victory then yes.” Said Landon.

“No strings attached?”

“No strings attached.”

“And I’ll be allowed to travel outside of Hyland?”

“Your death wish but be my guest.”

“And they come too?” Rose asked pointing over to Lucas, he gave her a smirk.

“Sure.” He scoffed.

“Hey don’t give us that! We sell swords do this for a fucking living and have built up too much pride in the sheer amount of battles we’ve been in to just turn tail it and run.” Said Lucas.

“But keep in mind that I’m in charge here.” He said he turned his horse around. “I look forward to seeing you on the battle field Shepherd.” He then rode away. The other soldiers walked away too. Rose gritted her teeth and gives the leaving soldiers a double duce.

“Hey cheer up, with the woodsmen around you wouldn’t have to lift a finger.” Said Lucas.

“Too late. I’m already lifting two.” Said Rose.

“Besides those.” Said Lucas. While close by Muse turns to Sorey just as Lucas was ordering his men to prepare for battle.

“Keep an eye on her, interfere if necessary.” She said.

“Yes mam.” Sorey replied then blending back into the crowd. Rose then walked up to her.

“Lady Rose!” She heard Neif nearby say. “We heard about Captain Sergei.”

“Don’t worry it’ll be okay … probably.” Said Rose.

“Oh don’t be so gung ho about it!” Said a civilian. “They’ll probably use you for all you’re worth and still fire Sergei.”

“Not to mention that they’ll likely kill your … friend.” Said Muse. “Due to very strict drug policies.”

“Any suggestions besides sitting the war out as I’ll be branded as an enemy of the state if I do that?” Rose asked.

“Well we can’t do anything for you but Sergei and Boris on the other hand, we can petition for their release and request Sergei to not be fired.” Said Eguille.

“That’s right.” Said Neif. “The council can’t ignore so many people’s voices, so please don’t give up hope Gentle Shepherd.”

“And as for your … friend, I know someone that might be able to pull some strings to get her free.” Said Muse.

“Thanks.” Said Rose.

“Come back safely you hear?” She heard another civilian say.

“We’ll be waiting for return!” Said another civilian as Rose walked ahead with Lucas towards the battle field.

“Don’t go all gung ho about this, like they said.” Said Edna.

“She won’t.” Said Dezel. “She has us to keep her in check.”

It takes a day to get to Glaivend Basin and once there she headed towards the war camp. She entered General Landon’s camp.

“Sir we are getting reports that Rolance has developed a new weapon.” She hears a soldier say.

“You can’t be serious.” Said Landon.

“Unfortunately I am sir.” The soldier replied. “The people who have seen it say it’s long and thin, runs on explosive powder and shoots small pellets farther than any arrow can.”

“Hm … strange what they’re talking about sound like modified versions of Lailah’s Sigfreid.” Said Mikleo.

“You think Lailah is distributing weapons?” Rose muttered.

“Are you nuts? Lailah hates Sigfreid and wants it destroyed! I’ve been with her for a while and she certainly didn’t spend that time making modified versions of a weapon that mind you she doesn’t like.” Said Dezel. “Plus where the hell would she get the resources for something like Sigfreid, and how the hell would she know how to build it?”

“All right fine, I’ll back off about Lailah.” Said Rose.

“Whether or not Lailah has anything to do with this it’s still strange that someone has figured out enough about Sigfreid to develop something similar.” Said Mikleo. “We’re gonna have to get behind enemy lines, take one of those weapons and investigate it for ourselves.” Rose coughed to get their attention.

“Ah Shepherd.” Said Landon. “You came.”

“Not like I had much of a choice.” Said Rose. “What about Lucas?”

“He’s leading an ambush on the right flank.” Said Landon. “I’m expecting you to lead a charge on the front line.”

“You know I overheard you talking about a specific weapon Rolance has, I think I would be more effective dealing with those than the front lines.” Said Rose.

“And what, pray tell, makes you say that?” Landon asked.

“I’ve been around something similar and I know how to take them out.” Said Rose, half lying.

“And how do you do that?” Landon asked.

“Well it requires the Shepherd’s power.” Said Rose.

“You’re pulling my leg.” Said Landon. “You’re just saying that so you don’t have to go to the front lines.”

“I’m dead serious general. These are ancient powerful weapons said to be made by the gods themselves. If any ordinary man tries to go up against these weapons its instant death.” She lied.

“General she’s telling the truth about the deaths. Our men that have been hit by these pellets they died just like that.” Said the soldier snapping to emphasize her point.

“Tch. If you can stop these weapons then fine, go, take care of them!” He ordered.

“Thank you.” Said Rose leaving the tent.

 _“Nice, I was worried when you were describing the weapon but you managed to pull through.”_ Said Dezel as they then walked out of the camp.

“Right now we need a good vantage point to try to find these weapons and the people using them.” Said Rose. “I think one of these bluffs would look good.”

 _“Need my help getting up there?”_ Dezel asked.

“That would be nice.” Said Rose.

 _“Sure just fly on up there. Subtle.”_ Said Edna. Rose looked around for a corner where she could hide in then armatize.

“Lukein Yurlin.” She muttered to herself. And in her armatized form she jumped into the air with Dezel’s help with boosting her to get to the top of the bluff. She then crouched down to make sure no one saw her. The seraphim but Dezel got out of her body. “You guys, except Dezel, notice anything out of the orninary?”

“You knew he was going to say something like ‘no’ or be totally sarcastic if you didn’t exclude him didn’t you?” Edna asked.

“He did that frequently when we were kids.” Said Rose.

 _“And I can hear you.”_ Said Dezel.

“Okay that aside I’m seeing little specs that are on higher ground and a little bit out of the way on the battle field.” Said Mikleo. Rose squinted and scanned the area.

“Yeah I see them.” She then saw a flicker from one of them. “Oh that must be them all right.”

“My question is why hasn’t anyone tried going up to them. No archers or anyone has tried to shoot in their general direction.” Edna pointed out.

“I suspect that it has something to do with the ground forces being distracted by the chaos of the battle field.” Said Mikleo.

“Let’s go. We’re heading down to them.” Said Rose. The seraphim went back into her body and in her armatized form she jumped off the bluff and glided towards the nearest speck with the wind behind her speeding up her descent. As she got closer she could see more and more details of the spec until she saw a Rolance soldier in their normal uniform but they lacked the armor as well as a helmet. She could see the soldier’s chin length dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. In fact he was dressed in lighter attire convenient for moving around and she got a closer look at the weapon. It was more or less a larger version of Sigfreid except was composed of a long metal barrel with a rod attached to the bottom and didn’t look quite as boxy as Sigfreid did.

“What the fu-!” The soldier started when Rose landed in front of him and proceeded to knock the weapon out of his hands. He fell back. He then scrambled for the weapon, Rose saw this and transformed into the Earth Armatus and ran over to it. She took the gun barrel and crushed it with her gauntlet, which to the soldier she just crushed it with her bare hands. “Fuck.” He said. “Fuck! … Fuck!” He then scrambled up and booked it saying “Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck” as he ran. Rose just awkwardly stood there as he left.

“Rose …” Said Dezel.

“You sure you’re just gonna let him go?” Edna asked.

“I’m hoping that they don’t have spares and the ones they have are what they have.” Said Rose. “C’mon we have more of them to stop.” She and the seraphim ran to the closest one to the one destroyed a man that caught sight of her rather early on and shot the first bullet at her but she turned on the Earth armatus and raised a pillar of rock blocking it then lowered it just as quickly and rushed towards the man just as he was scrambling to reload his weapon she then had another pillar of pop up right under the weapon causing it to bend upwards and when the soldier pulled the trigger it exploded on him blowing off an arm as well as part of his torso he spat up several pints of blood then died collapsing and bleeding out at Rose’s feet. Rose froze and gritted her teeth. “Shit!” She muttered. She shook her head to the one that was the next closest and she did something similar causing the weapon to kill the wielder. She went to the next one and used the wind armatus this time. The original plan was to just use the force of the wind to knock the weapon out of the soldier’s hands but instead she forced him off a cliff which ended in him cracking his skull open on a rock below. And with the next one she caused a similar blowback as bending back the barrel did killing the soldier. After that she dearmatized. “God what am I doing?” She said to herself.

“Those were accidents Rose, they sometimes happen.” Said Dezel.

“Well that but what the hell am I honestly contributing to all this?” Rose asked. “Cuz right now I’m acting as a disposable pawn in this stupid war! All for trying to collect a stupid weapon on my end!”

“Well this place is a malevolence breeding pit.” Said Edna rather bluntly. “Even if you think this is all pointless, remember you’re not here by choice. You’re here because you broke a bunch of people out of jail and made friends with an old drug dealer.”

“She’s right. We can’t see it now but we can feel it.” Said Mikleo. “With each passing moment it’s getting harder to breathe.

“Yeah I know…” Said Rose through her teeth. “I just feel like … just ass for those accidents. I just wanted to grab one of those weapons so we can investigate it and get this over with.”

“I know.” Said Dezel, “We know, please just hold out a little longer, okay?” Rose inhaled.

“Fine. I’ll try not to let those accidents affect me.” She said. She then continued with the next one who was a woman with very short black hair grey eyes and nasty scars over her right eye more prepared than the other five as she immediately shot at Rose who blocked the bullet using the earth armatus.

“Well shit.” The woman muttered as Rose ran towards her with a knife in hand. The woman tried to take a stab at her with the weapon.

“Ack! Shit! She has a knife tied to that!” She muttered as she got out of the way. The woman tried to stab Rose again but she dodged it. “Hey can you stop trying to stab me and give me your weapon?”

“Why should I do that Shepherd?” The woman asked.

“I honestly just need to investigate it and I’d appreciate one that I didn’t accidentally break.” Said Rose.

“Why didn’t you ask with the other snipers?” She asks.

“I was hoping to just grab it and force it away from them. I didn’t intend to kill most of them!” Rose replied.

“Uh huh.” Said the woman. Then a white paper packet and small metal ball. “You have thirty seconds to tell me why I shouldn’t shoot your brains out for killing my comrades. Go.”

“Uh. Uh… I didn’t kill that one guy or you yet that’s gotta count for something right? Fuck! I’m only doing this to save a friend’s life!” Rose panicked as she dumped black powder down the barrel followed by the ball then jammed it in with the rod.

“Time’s up.” She said taking aim at Rose’s head.

“Mikleo! Stop it!” Dezel shouted.

“Isn’t it strange that we’ve been relying on Meebo a lot lately?” Edna asked.

“Twin flow!” Mikleo shouted. Shooting a small water stream straight into the barrel. The woman pulled the trigger and … _“Click.”_

“What the …” She muttered. As she tried pulling the trigger again, and another click came. She did it a few more times before looking up to Rose. “What did you do?”

“I …” Rose started looking back to Mikleo then back to the woman “I’m not quite sure myself.” She replied. “Look I’m dead serious I’m not killing people because I want to.”

“Welcome to war sweetheart. No one want to kill people here they just have to.” Said the woman untying the rag that held the knife to her weapon.

“No I mean I’m technically not supposed to be here and I was blacked mailed into joining Hyland’s army.” Said Rose. The woman gave her a confused look. “I broke people out of jail and made friends with a powder dealer. And a friend of mine in the army got hauled in for questioning because of it and will lose his job and that mentioned drug dealer will die if I don’t comply. Also I’ll be branded as an enemy of the state if I don’t do as they say.” She shook her head.

“You are either noble or just really stupid.” The woman said.

“I’m not gonna argue with that mostly because no one else has told me that I’m either blank or stupid. They just say I’m stupid.” Said Rose. The woman stared at her for a while then gave a very, very, long sigh. She took up the weapon and looked through the spy glass also tied to it.

“How about this. You stop the sniper that’s going to help slaughter the just failed ambush on the right flank, without killing him, I’ll give you my rifle, kill him and I’ll kill you.” She said.

“What? The ambush failed?” Rose exclaimed. She untied the spyglass and gave it to Rose. She looked through and saw a group of mercenaries and Hyland soldiers fighting off a small part of Rolance’s army. She then looked over to see a sniper perched on a nearby cliff. “Shit. Fine I’ll do it!” She snapped giving the spyglass back to the woman then running towards the sniper. When she got closer she started moving quietly and drew out one of her knives. She smacked him in the back of the head with the handle. However the sniper turned around in which she punched him square in the jaw causing him to pass out. She then went to check for a pulse or something. Much to her relief she heard some breathing from the unconscious sniper. She turned to the general area to where the female sniper was and gave her a thumbs up. Then she looked to where Lucas was.

“You going?” Edna asked.

“Yeah I am and I’m counting on you guys!” She said before jumping off. “Lukeim Yurlin!” She landed in her armatized form and knocked over some soldiers by forcing them down with the wind.

“What the fuck’s going on?” One of the soldiers, presumably one of higher rank due to a variation in the armor from the rest of the soldiers.

“That’s what I wanna know.” Said Lucas. Meanwhile Rose drew her knives.

“Oh don’t worry fellas I’ll go easy on you.” She said through her teeth. Some of the soldiers charged at her and tried to attack she in turned charged at them knocking them over the head with her knife handles then kicking another one back. “Move it!” She shouted then armatizing with Mikleo she then shot an energy arrow knocking back some soldiers and even making some fall flat on their faces.

“How the hell is she doing so much with just knives?” A soldier wondered as Rose stepped forward.

“Move.” She said in a low voice.

“Archers!” The probable captain, general, whatever, figure shouted. A bunch of archers on a cliff across from them shot at her but to the average person she magically deflected them when in all actuality she fused with Dezel and blew them away. A few soldiers charged at her from behind and Dezel separated from her then threw out a pendulum at a soldier’s legs and has it wrap around them he pulled the pendulum causing him to fall and his fellow soldiers to trip over him.

“Ugh … what the fuck?” Cursed a soldier.

“I don’t know! I felt like something was dragging me!”  Exclaimed the first soldier that fell. Two more soldiers in front of her charged but she ducked out of the way of their sword swings then slipped through the space between them and drew a knife to the captain guy’s throat.

“The fuck?” Lucas muttered to himself he then caught a glimpse of Rose threatening the highest ranking guy in the area. “Wait? The Shepherd?”

“Sir...? Is she supposed to do that?” The mercenary asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never met a shepherd before.” Said Lucas, “Not even a member of the S.H.I.T.S.”

“Order your men to retreat.” She said in a low voice. The commander guy froze and tried to speak. “Order. Them. To. Retreat.” She repeated. The commander guy shivered and likely wet his pants and swallowed.

“M … men … we’re retreating.” He said. “Men. Retreat.” He ordered again. “Lower your weapons we’re leaving!” The soldiers looked at each other, then to their captain guy, then to Rose who still had a knife to his throat. The looked back to their captain guy then put away their weapons and left. Rose, the seraphim, Lucas, and his men stood there awkwardly, quiet for god knows how long.

“So … Glad you’re safe.” Said Rose.

“Yeah …” Said Lucas. “Should we you know get back to the rest of the army?”

“Yeah …” Said Rose. She then quickly turned around and started walking back. The Seraphim soon followed.

“Rose don’t you think that was a little … forceful?” Dezel asked. “I mean holding up a deal with, technically, and enemy sniper is one thing but that … we thought that you were just gonna kill him.”

“Yeah … even though I would normally encourage whatever to get the job done. That was concerning.” Said Edna.

“How? I didn’t kill the sniper and I saved Lucas’ life how is that concerning?” Rose asked.

“It’s flat out more aggressive than what you’ve been doing so far when it comes to other humans, those accidental murders aside.” Said Mikleo. “We’re worried about you and we think that malevolence is starting to take effect.”

“It’s not.” Said Rose. “If it was you would be feeling it right?”

“I guess.” Edna shrugged.

“Besides we still have work to do.” Said Rose. “We need to stop this war as fast as we can.” She walked ahead and the seraphim went back into her. She walks straight into Rolance’s side of the battle field as they were getting in the mess of catapulting shit at each other, well not literal shit but big flaming rocks, large pointy sticks (through it’s more like they were put on a huge ass crossbow), and regular huge ass rocks. She searched the back line for the woman that had the weapon. She eventually found her further back. “Well. I didn’t kill him.” She said.

“No you didn’t.” She said handing over the weapon, “A deal’s a deal, here you go.”

“Thank you. But what are you going to do?” Rose asked.

“I can still use my knife, and I can steal a crossbow off a corpse. I’ll manage.” She said leaving. “Try not to get yourself killed on this side of the battle field.”

“Kay.” Said Rose. As soon as the soldier left her face changed from the usual laidback cheery calm to grim.

 _“Rose… What are you thinking?”_ Dezel asked as she approached closer to the rest of the army. She stopped for a moment and took off the bandana tied around her leg and tied a knife to the barrel of the rifle. She then snuck her way to the back row of soldiers went up to a soldier and slashed him in the back. Then knocked him in the back of the head before he could swear out his reaction. She then went to another soldier and did the same thing, and another and then another and so on and so forth. _“What the flying hell are you doing?!”_

“I’m not killing anyone.” She said.

 _“True but this is a bit much.”_ Said Mikleo. _“I mean you could get up in front of the army and say ‘Hey look! I have the weapon that you were planning on using to turn the tide of war!’ That would’ve caused them to surrender instead of … whatever this is.”_

“I don’t know how to work it.” Said Rose.

 _“You don’t need that! All you need is to do is look like you’re competent with that weapon and get their attention!”_ Mikleo snapped. Everyone was quiet for the moment. _“You’re not gonna do a damn thing I just said are you?”_

“Hephsin Yulind.” She said armatizing with Edna.

 _“What are you doing?”_ Mikleo questioned. She then jumped up into the air and slammed her fist into the ground creating a crater causing many Rolance soldiers to fall in. She did the same thing a second time, and a third, and at the fourth the Rolance generals started calling for retreats and they all ran leaving their banners behind. All the while Hyland’s soldiers cheered for their victory.

 _“What was that?”_ Dezel asked.

“A quick way to end this.” Said Rose.

 _“Still think it would be quicker to just use that weapon to intimidate them into surrendering.”_ Said Mikleo.

“What’s done is done. But we need to purify any hellions and get out of here.” Said Rose.

 _“Good so you noticed them.”_ Said Enda. _“You seemed so focused on the sniper garbage that I was starting to think you didn’t have the periphery vision to see them right next to you.”_

 _“Yeah … yeah. I guess I’ll stick with you.”_ Said Dezel. So Rose ran off into the battlefield to purify the hellions that were created by the battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah the war chapter but with added guns that will be pretty relevant in later chapters and a small part of Muse ordering Sorey to spy on Rose to help with a part that personally drove me crazy in the game which was, what the hell was Rose doing there? Wasn't she and the Sparrow feathers working on releasing Alisha? Doesn't this seem a little too convenient? Okay it was pretty small but it still drove me crazy.


	26. The Lord of Calamity

Chapter 26: The Lord of Calamity

While purifying she saw Landon still ordering men even though the battle was over.

“What? Really? Really? He’s still going at it?” Rose exclaimed.

“Go! Exterminate every last one of them! Don’t let a single one escape!” Landon ordered.

“General! There’s no point to this the battle’s over!” Rose shouted.

“Hmph! The Shepherd, as much as a naïve dumbass as you expect.” Said Ladon.

“Well fuck you too.” Said Rose. Landon’s nostrils flaired out but he regained his composure.

“Don’t you know? The more rats we kill the less they’ll have next time.” He said in a mocking tone.

“And then what? You’ll cross the border to kill civilians to make sure they don’t produce more soldiers?” Rose asked.

“Don’t give him any ideas.” Said Edna.

“I don’t see why not.” Said Landon. “The less assets the enemy has the faster we’ll win.”

“Fuck. I wasn’t being serious! That is completely unnecessary not to mention overkill!” Said Rose.

“Oh come now Shepherd, you made it so you can create this rout. Show more pride!” He said followed by a laugh. Rose grit her teeth and growled.

“You better remember you promise to forgive Sergei and Boris’s charges and release Mary Jane.” She said through her teeth. He gave her a slimy smile and walked away, with his back turned to her Rose flipped him off.

“Good sweet mother of Maotelus he’s a piece of shit.” Said Dezel.

“Which is why I’m giving him the bird.” Said Rose.

“Stop that.” Said Mikleo. “But regardless it wouldn’t matter how many hellions we purify at this rate.”

“Right. Which is why we should just ditch this place and wait for this to calm down.” Said Edna.

“Kay …” Shrugged Rose. “Let’s go.” While walking out she felt a powerful surge of malevolence that stopped her heart for a moment and had her spit up blood getting it all over herself and the ground in front of her. She collapsed to the ground grabbing her chest and coughing.

“Rose!” Dezel cried then going up to her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m on the ground, my chest hurts, and I just puked up a good quarter of my own blood. What the fuck do you think?” Growled Rose.

“Yeah you’re still swearing like a sailor, you’re good.” Said Dezel.

“Fuck you!” Said Rose.

“This domain …” Said Edna. “I’ve never felt something like this before.”

“No kidding.” Said Mikleo.

“What’s going on here?” Edna asked as she looked up seeing a mass of malevolence clustered there where soldiers fought. They fought more brutally, which lead to soldiers stabbing their own allies. “The humans are starting lose their minds. What could produce this much malevolence?” At that time Muse’s words on the Lord of Calamity and she struggled up the left side of her face caked in bloody mud.

“Edna … do you remember … what Muse said about times like these?” She asked.

“That the amount of malevolence during these times is caused by …” She started. Her eyes widened. “You don’t mean …? Shit!” Mikleo and Dezel looked at the two women absolutely confused.

“Yep. I think …” She breathed “I think this domain is made by the … Lord of Calamity.” Said Rose finally standing up.

“Who?” Dezel asked.

“Long story short the main source of malevolence during times of shit.” Said Edna.

“We … we need to try to stop it.” Said Rose and she stumbled over to a path that looked like it would lead to the top of the bluff.

“Are you nuts?” Mikleo exclaimed. “If you’re dealing with something or someone that emits this much malevolence after collapsing you’re gonna die!”

“Well I have to do something! You’re in danger of getting corrupted here!” Said Rose.

“At least run if things get bad!” Dezel called.

“Yeah yeah, I will.” Rose called back.

“Yeah. Typical.” Edna sighed as the seraphim went back into her. While on the path a huge ass sword swung down but she jumped out of the way before it could chop her in half.

“Gah! Fuck!” She shouted.

 _“Rose!”_ Dezel shouted.

“I’m okay.” She said. The blade swung again and she rolled out of the way while getting a look at the source of the blade to see a large grey beast with a purple eye and in a familiar General’s uniform. “Landon?”

“So Shepherd, you’re planning of jeprodizing my glorious victory aren’t you?” He asked.

“Hey! You have that without virtually holding me with a knife at my neck!” Rose snapped back.

“Regardless it is as stupid as the rest of the things you do.” Said Landon. “Now stand up! The council might see you useful but they’ll reconsider once I deliver your severed head!” He then lunged at her and tried to slice her in half but she ducked out of the way. Dezel materialized and whipped a pendulum at Landon’s leg and tried to pull it out from under him. However he shrugged it off and stepped forward breaking the pendulum.

“Fuck…” Dezel growled. Landon turned his head and whacked him with the hilt of the blade.

 _“What the hell are you two doing?”_ Mikleo exclaimed. _“We need to just run and get out of here.”_

“Yeah about that, in case you haven’t noticed there’s berserk asshole trying to cleave me!” Said Rose.

 _“That doesn’t mean go in and fight it right after lying on the ground after puking up a lot of your blood! I mean look at you you’ve gotten so much paler!”_ Exclaimed Mikleo.

 _“Not to mention that Landon is basically a total hellion.”_ Said Edna.

“Well it’s not like he’s gonna let us leave … Guard Decay!” Dezel shouted creating an aura that put cracks into Landon’s armor with Rose going in from the side and whacking one of the cracks with the back of her knife causing it to split open before she had to back away so that Landon doesn’t do the same with her very squishy self. She backed away to scan the bodies on the battle field until she managed to spot a knife sticking out from one of them.

“Dezel, can you distract him for a little bit?” Rose asked.

“What?” Dezel asked back.

“I’m gonna try something that is likely gonna be very stupid but I need to grab a third knife.” Said Rose.

 _“Are you gonna do that thing you tried against Sorey?”_ Edna asked.

“Yeah I mean it’s a long shot as I haven’t really worked on it since the fight with Sorey.” Said Rose. “But I need to get to that knife.”

“Okay … please hurry I have a broken pendulum and all my seraphic artes take time to cast.” Said Rose.

“Um … can one of you two help him out?” Rose asked as she turned around and sprinted towards the knife.

 _“… Well let’s not have everyone come out at once.”_ Sighed Mikleo before he materialized and ran up to hit Landon with his staff. Rose sprinted over and removed the knife from its sheath and she ran over to Dezel and Mikleo with the latter defending himself from Landon’s sword while Dezel casted a seraphic arte and gave Mikleo quick bursts of healing after receiving a rather heavy blow. Rose ran forward while tossing up two of her knives then slashing Landon with her remaining one then tossed it up. However instead of a different knife falling into her hand all of them fell behind her.

“Oh goddammit.” Said Rose then jumping back grabbing a knife then throwing it at Landon. However Landon whacked it aside breaking it.

“What the hell was that Shepherd?” Landon taunted. “That was pathetic!”

“Oh you don’t say.” Rose growled picking up her knives and went over to where Mikleo and Dezel were. “Okay new plan do either of you think you can render him immobile?” Rose asked.

“I need two pendulums for that but one of them broke.” Dezel reminded.

“Yeah, though … judging from his size I need you two to buy time and keep him from moving around so much.” Said Mikleo.

“I think I can do that.” Said Rose. She then rushed up to Landon while keeping low to the ground then stabbed her knives into the insides of his legs.

“Ugh!” Landon grunted staggering almost falling to his knees.

“Vengent Fangs!” Dezel shouted using the arte to leave Landon breathless while Rose got up in his face and started stabbing more exposed parts on Landon causing him to growl and curse while he didn’t notice the ice forming around his ankles and slowly anchoring him to the ground. Rose kept an eye on the ground making sure Landon wasn’t moving his feet too much and avoided attacking there and prayed to god that he didn’t catch on to what she was doing. The process of Rose attacking Landon and Dezel casting seraphic artes on him went on until the two were just about ready to collapse.

“Oh? Did the Shepherd get tired?” Landon taunted. “Guess you’re not this all powerful savior everyone makes you out to be but just a silly little girl in a silly outfit that stole a sword. Thank you for providing such convincing proof that you’re not as useful as the council originally thought.” He raised his blade above his head and tried to take a step forward but it never happened. “What the ...?” Rose smirked as she got behind Landon then got up on him “What are you … get off of me!” She grabbed onto his uniform with one hand then whacked him at the base of his skull with her dagger letting out an unsettling crack.

 _‘Uh oh …’_ Rose thought.

“You … little … bitch!” Landon hissed as he collapsed to the ground. However unlike every other time he didn’t turn back to normal.

“What? It’s not disappearing!” Rose exclaimed.

“With this much malevolence it looks like that not even purification would work on even minor hellions.” Said Mikleo. “We might need to try to take out the source.”

“Good luck.” Said Edna. “From what we can figure the Lord of Calamity is a powerful being.”

“Well we’re gonna have to try to get rid of it.” Said Rose. “Otherwise this battle won’t end.”

“Good luck. Seriously.” Said Edna. “But if I were you I would hurry to that cliff.”

“Right.” Said Rose before running to where the malevolence was centered. As she went up it became more chaotic as allies were stabbing each other and tearing each other apart and there were more obvious hellions as they continued. She stopped when she saw a rather large humanoid figure whose head, hands, and feet, were lionesque in appearance primarily black and purple with a golden mane and the seraphim came out. “You’re …”

“Oh. So you came.” The figure said turning around Rose shuttered at the glimpse at his cold yellow eyes. “Your weapon was very effective even though I had my doubts. They were proven wrong as Hyland went to rather desperate measures to take out the snipers, using the Shepherd of all people.” Rose looked around her to see who he was talking to. Then looked at him trying to hide her confusion. “Oh now here are some familiar faces. How have you been Gabriel, Muse? I gotta say, you two honestly aged pretty well with it being over twenty years since I last saw you two.” Dezel tilted his head and Mikleo flinched.

“How do you …?” Mikleo started. He looked shocked for a bit then he started to laugh.

“Oh my mistake.” He said. “There’s something on your face that made me mistake you for someone else. Not to mention all that.” The Lord of Calamity gestured to Rose’s blood soaked shepherd’s cape.

“I know.” Said Rose. The Lord of Calamity chuckled.

“Someone like you of all people stumbled into the role of Shepherd.” He said. “Frightened?”

“No …” Rose lied.

“Sure.” Said the Lord of Calamity “You know it’s a fool’s error to charge in here. Then again I guess every Shepherd is a fool just trying to avoid a rigged game with death.” Rose’s eyes widened and her mouth slightly opened in an expression that just screamed ‘Shit shit shit shit shit!’

“H-Hephsin Yulind!” She shouted armatizing with her prime lord.

“Rose?” Dezel and Mikleo questioned going back into her. He smirked witnessing the Shepherd transform then charge at him going to punch him. The Lord of Calamity knocked the hovering fist out of the way and grabbed Rose’s wrist. Rose panicked and struggled to get out of his grasp while dangling in the air.

“How cute.” Said the Lord of Calamity “Your purity and your absolute stupidity manage to make you a bit of a conundrum. All the more fun for any vindictive god to toy with.” The Lord of Calamity felt something hit him in the back. He turned his head. “And you have a friend with you I see. Heh, adorable.” He then tossed her over his shoulder which sent her flying straight into another person with the shock of it all causing her to dearmatize with Edna when she landed. Lying down she saw a rather familiar mask and she then got up.

“Sorey? What are you doing here?” She asked.

“Boss asked me to keep an eye on you and keep you from getting killed.” He said rather bluntly.

“In hindsight you probably should’ve stayed back boy, as well …” The Lord of Calamity said gesturing to the two “it didn’t help you.” He then started walking forward to the two humans and the seraph. Edna retreated into Rose and the other two scooted back as he got closer. He then let out a roar which created a strong field of malevolence that knocked the two further back and Rose felt like something went through her which caused her to throw up.

“Hey! Are you all right?” Sorey asked. After a few dry heaves and coughs Rose whipped the edge of her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Yeah.” Said Rose.

 _“Listen well Shepherd and … random boy that probably saw everything and was stalking the Shepherd.”_ Said the Lord of Calamity’s disembodied voice.

“Hey…” Said Sorey.

“You know we have names.” Said Rose.

 _“Good for you but I don’t particularly care.”_ Said the Lord of Calamity. _“But keep this in mind, my name is Heldalf and I wonder how long you will last.”_

“And why should we care about your name when you obviously don’t give two flying fucks for ours?” Rose asked.

 _“Touche.”_ Were the last words that they heard from Heldalf after a chuckle.

“What in the world was that?” Sorey asked.

“I don’t know, what do you think Edna?” Said Rose. But she got no response. “Edna?” She still got no response. “Edna? Mikleo? Dezel?” She called getting more frantic. “Guys what are you doing this isn’t funny!”

“What’s going on? How come we aren’t hearing the seraphim?” Sorey questioned.

“Fuck! I don’t know!” Rose hissed. They then heard a footstep. “Dez-!” Rose started turning until she saw a horde of malevolent soldiers slowly moving towards them like zombies. “Shit!”

“Oh god where the hell did they come from?” Sorey asked in a panicked tone.

“I don’t know!” Rose exclaimed. “Run!” The two sprinted away from the horde up until they ran into another section of the horde which caused them to turn around and nearly ran off the edge of a cliff.

“Ugh! We’re surrounded!” Sorey shouted.

“We’re gonna have to break through!” Said Rose.

“Are you crazy? There’s at least a hundred of these guys! And you’re without help of the seraphim!” Sorey pointed out.

“What are you complaining about? You’re assassin!” Rose shouted.

“An assassin not a juggernaut!” Sorey snapped back “I can really only handle back stabbing one person at a time before I end up overwhelmed! And can’t you try getting the seraphim back by doing that fusion thing?” Rose paused to look at him for a bit.

“Hephsin Yulind!” She shouted, but nothing happened. “Hephsin Yulind!” She tried again but again, nothing. “Welp it looks like we’re gonna have to jump.”

“Can’t you use that weapon to try to fire off like a signal for help?” Sorey asked.

“I don’t have anything that could cause it to fire off!” Rose replied.

“Dammit! Ugh … there’s gotta be some way we can get around them!” Said Sorey and just as he said so a horse came charging through. “… That’ll work.”

“Goddammit Dezel! You disappear on me and the first thing you do is steal a fucking horse!” Rose shouted.

“Save it for some other thing get on!” Sorey snapped getting on the horse. “Do you know anything about riding?”

“No!” Rose answered struggling to get on the horse. Sorey pulled her up and then they rode out trampling the stray hellionized soldier but Sorey pulled at the reins when they got the bulk of the horde. Sorey then looked over his shoulder then rode out to the cliff they were on. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Trying to get across the canyon!” Sorey replied. “Hope this works!”

“What?” Rose exclaimed. The horse jumped off the cliff but unfortunately due to the weight on it they plummeted as soon as they left the edge. Sorey and Rose screamed as they fell into the river below though the bright side is that they missed the lance that once of the hellionized Hyland soldiers by a mile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Heldalf is still the Lord of Calamity here, sorry those who are expecting for it to be someone else. Though here Heldalf may seem the most out of character out of anyone in this fic because well ... a lot of people don't like him because in the game he was a tragic yet very generic doomsday villain and in the anime he was virtually nonexistent until the end, so I plan for him to make more appearances ... and to really ham him up because I'm a bit of a sucker for hammy villains. And to be honest I don't know how an affable scenery chewing Heldalf would work out. As for who Heldalf confused Rose for and who Gabriel is, that will not come until later.


	27. Hiding Place for Two-faced Assassins

Chapter 27: Hiding Place for Two Faced Assassins

“Ow …” Rose groaned as she found herself waking up on the river banks just at the edge of a forest late at night. She looked around her to see an unconscious Sorey and horse. “How did we get here?” Then she remembered that Sorey rode them off a cliff. “Right.” She sighed figuring that the landing in the river knocked them out and swept them down to where they are. She went over to Sorey and checked up on him she touched his forehead and found him burning up “… Of course.” She sighed. She then looked over to the horse. “Shit … Dezel is gonna kill me.” The horse woke up and stood up. “Oh good, you’re alive.” She said to the horse. “Have you seen any seraphim around?” The horse pointed its nose next to her. “Dezel? Edna?” She called, no response. “Fuck … what did that cat faced guy do?” She muttered to herself. She looked over to the unconscious and feverish Sorey and back to the horse. “You mind if you can help me with one more thing?” She asked. The horse huffed in response. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She picked up Sorey and dragged him over to the horse and tossed him over the back of the horse. She heard rustling in the bushes and looked around then tugged on the reins and they started walking through the forest until they heard a groan from Sorey. “Oh hey you’re up.”

“Where …” He started.

“In some forest. We got swept up here after your stupid idea got us in a river and by all accounts we shouldn’t be alive.” Said Rose.

“Wait …” He said weakly. “I know this place … head north.”

“Really?” Said Rose looking at him skeptically, “What do you have in your head this time?”

“Nothing. We have a hideout in some ruins there.” He said.

“All right.” Said Rose.

“It’s not gonna cause us to fall to our deaths.” Assured Sorey. “And you do realize we’re being followed right?”

“Oh no. Really?” Said Rose.

“Heading to our hideout might give them the slip.” Said Sorey.

“You know for someone with a fever you’re being awfully chatty.” Said Rose.

“Might as well do something if I’m gonna be bedridden for the next couple of days.” Said Sorey.

“Okay yeah I can’t really argue there.” Said Rose. Rose then turned towards the north or what she guesses to be north and heads there only to have to turn around because Sorey told her it was the wrong direction. But eventually they passed a huge ass tree stump and then headed towards a ruin where other unmasked Scattered Bones members and Muse came running towards them.

“Sorey! Are you all right?” She asked helping him off the horse he wobbled a bit but gained his balance.

“Y-yeah.” He said. “I’m fine.” Muse then brought his forehead down to hers.

“No … you’re burning up. You need to get to bed, now.” She said.

“But … what about the people who have been following us? I can’t-.” Sorey started but Muse silenced him.

“Felice, Rosh, go see what’s going on.” Said Muse.

“Wait.” Said Rose.

“Don’t worry Rose, we’re just seeing what’s going on.” Muse assured. “You help Sorey get inside.”

“I can walk on my own.” Said Sorey.

“Still. Keep an eye on him.” She told Rose. “Now get inside you two.”

“Okay okay.” Said Rose as she took Sorey but he shoved her off and they went inside the ruins. They went to a room in the ruin where the Scattered Bone/Light Sparks used as a sleeping area for the guild and the two flopped onto two different beds.

“So can you hear the Seraphim again?” Sorey asked.

“No.” Said Rose.

“I wonder what happened. What did that man with the lion head … Heldalf do?” Said Sorey.

“I don’t know, but whatever he did it blocked off our resonance. Do you think Muse is affected?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know.” Said Sorey. Rose then sat up. “Rose?”

“You … stay here and rest, I’ll go talk to Muse.” Said Rose leaving the room. She went to the ladder where she and Sorey entered the ruin to meet up with Muse climbing down with other members of the guild. “Hey.” She greeted when Muse got down and the other guild members separated. “Did you get an idea on who was following you?”

“Just a bunch of kids.” She replied. “They’ve been driven to the streets due to their parents dying from illness and took up a living of looting soldiers.”

“What?” Rose exclaimed.

“We didn’t kill them if that’s what you’re thinking.” Said Muse.

“Oh.” Said Rose.

“Honestly what do you take us for?” Muse asked.

“Well when we last talked you told Mikleo that you were two faced.” Said Rose.

“I have standards.” Said Muse. “I refuse to kill children because I believe they can change and they have the largest capacity for that out of any of us.”

“But what did you do with the kids?” Rose asked.

“I just gave them enough money to eat for at least a day and scared them off.” Said Muse.

“You didn’t threaten to murder them if you sat them again did you?” Rose asked.

“What? No!” Muse exclaimed. “Anyway you look like you want to talk about something. What is it?”

“I was wondering if you could still see and hear the seraphim.” Said Rose.

“Yes of course I can what are you getting at?” Muse asked.

“Well … on the battle field me and Sorey ran into the Lord of Calamity.” Said Rose.

“What?!” Muse exclaimed.

“Let me finish!” Said Rose. “We ran into him and he gave me shit and called me an idiot. Then he did something that made us unable to hear or see the seraphim.”

“Is this true?” Muse asked, Rose didn’t reply because she assumed she was asking the invisible to her seraphim. She fell silent for a bit looking like the world was going to end until she finally muttered “Dammit!”

“Has this happened before?” Rose asked.

“No!” Muse said “We didn’t run into anything, or anyone that could some how make you not resonant. I can’t tell you what to do in this case.”

“Shit.” Rose hissed.

“Yeah. Shit is right.” Said Muse. “I really don’t know what to tell you Rose I’ve never ran into this and I can’t tell you how to fix it. All I could say is just get some rest and we can figure this out in the morning.”

“… All right.” Said Rose going back to her bed. By then Sorey was asleep. She kicked off her shoes and fell asleep shortly after.


	28. A Night for the Seraphim

Chapter 28: A Night for the Seraphim

Edna sat down at the edge of Rose’s bed while the other seraphim, including Zenrus stood. Dezel started walking out.

“Getting some air.” He said. Shortly after Mikleo started walking out.

“Now where are you going Meebo?” As Edna in a mock concerned tone.

“Air.” Said Mikleo before heading out leaving Zenrus and Edna in the room with the sleeping humans.

“You seemed awfully fond of that human.” Edna remarked.

“I could say the same for you.” Said Zenrus.

“That’s ridiculous.” Said Edna. “I’m just stuck with this idiot. I don’t really care for humans like my brother does.”

“I doubt that is the case. I mean before Glennwood closed itself off from Northfell I heard that you had something if Flamestone and even after the boarder closing you went to Flamestone every decade or so.” Said Zenrus. “I wouldn’t call that not really caring for humans.”

“I made friends with the seraphim there.” Edna denied. “If I didn’t have these purification powers I would be with them.”

“Is that what you call it.” Zenrus said under his breath.

“What was that?” Edna asked.

“Nothing, nothing.” Said Zenrus. They were quiet for a little while.

“So … how long have you been hanging with Muse?” Edna asked trying to make small talk.

“About … seventeen … eighteen years.” Zenrus shrugged. The two were quiet again.

“So … Lafarga’s running Elysia all right.” Said Edna.

“That’s good. I wish I could say the same about the Shepherd he brought up.” Said Zenrus.

“Yeah … and I wish I could say that I’m not a clueless idiot when Lailah left me her job.” Said Edna.

“I was wondering about that. How is she anyway?” Zenrus asked.

“She’s fine, wandering around with one of Zavied’s things.” Said Edna.

“Which of Zavied’s things? The pendulums? Sigfried? His alcohol? …” Zenrus listed off.

“The gun … Sigfried.” Said Edna.

“Strange, I don’t know him as well as you might know him but I hear rumors that he always has Sigfried around him.” Said Zenrus.

“Seems that way.” Shrugged Edna. “While traveling with the Sparks did you see any guns being sold in Rolance?”

“As in Sigfried looking weapons or the big thing that the Shepherd has?” Zenrus asked.

“Both.” Said Edna. Zenrus let out a breath.

“I’m afraid those are the only two I’ve seen.” Said Zenrus.

“Have you been getting trades from Flamestone?” Edna asked.

“I don’t keep track of the goods the Sparks habe been selling but I haven’t seen anything that would indicate that it was from Flamestone.” Said Zenrus.

“They should be easy to identify as goods from Flamestone would come with a particular crest.” Said Edna taking off her left glove “It should look something like this.” She showed Zenrus the back of her hand revealing a tattoo that looked like an abstracted sun two cresent moons facing away from each other intersecting the main circle. His eyes widened.

“I’m afraid I haven’t.” Said Zenrus.

“So that means Glennwood is still isolated … there should be no way that weapon should be here, much less functioning.” Edna muttered to herself.

“Is that weapon … the gun something exclusive to Flamestone?” Zenrus asked. Edna nodded slowly. “How did they get there?”

“That’s what I wanna know because by all accounts most of these got destroyed along with plans to make them when the creator died.” Said Edna. “And Flamestone law dictates that if you were to try to get the disigns for the guns or try to get a gun from there you would be instantly executed.”

“You know the creator could’ve taken in an apprentice.” Said Zenrus.

“Way too unlikely, I remember the creator, an arrogant ass that was good with words and tinkering, he’d never take in an apprentice.” Said Edna. “Plus he wanted to take the secret of making and using guns to his grave. And he’s the one who put in that law.”

“I have a theory it was one of the S.H.I.T.S.” Said Zenrus.

“But I’m pretty sure all of them are dead except for Muse, Lailah, Zavied, and Eizen.” Said Edna. “Wait … you don’t mean …? It can’t be I mean the Lord of Calamity mistook Rose for someone working for him it can’t be one of the ones we know! And how the hell will they get the idea of creating guns?”

“Sigfried.” Said Zenrus. “Think about it it gives us seraphim a method outside of purification to deal with malevolence and hellions, and with the age of chaos and the lack of a Shepherd until now people can get desperate on how to deal with malevolence so you need to make something that could aid a seraph would be worth trying to copy.”

“Then why would any of them, especially the seraphim, distribute them to Rolance as a weapon to use against Hyland?” Edna asked. Zenrus shrugged.

“It’s just a theory.” Said Zenrus. “We’re gonna have to look for clues and try to look for anyone the Shepherd looks like and try to question them about their motives and what they’re doing with the Lord of Calamity.” He said. Just as he said that Muse walked in and Edna looked at her.

“Oh don’t mind me I just need to try to wash that cape.” She said removing Rose’s cloak while she slept. “But know that I don’t have an interest in recreating Sigfried, I have enough on my plate to think about between the Light Sparks and the Scattered Bones.

“We probably should drop Muse from our list of suspects.” Said Zenrus.

“Really?” Sighed Edna. Muse left the room when she ran into her estranged son.

“Hello Mikleo.” She said.

“Hello M-…Muse.” He replied. She smiled not letting her disappointment of him not calling her “mom” get to her.

“How are you dealing with all this?” She asked.

“I don’t know …” He said. “Maybe better than Dezel but all I really know is that he went outside.”

“Hey.” She said, he turned to her. “Would you like something to eat?”

“Um …” Said Mikleo.

“I haven’t eaten anything either but I need to take care of this first.” She said.

“You could use lemons for that, if you have any.” Said Mikleo.

“Hm?”

“To get rid of bloodstains you could use lemons but you need to let it out to dry afterwards.” Said Mikleo.

“All right. There’s food in the back if you want any.” Said Muse walking off with the cloak. Mikleo went to the back of the hideout to find booze, likely for selling, and various dried foods tucked away in crates and mostly gone fresh fruits and vegetables as they would spoil if the guild didn’t eat them, and a bag of rice. He grabbed whatever’s left of the fresh stuff went to where he assumed the guild was cooking stuff as there was a fire running and a disaster zone of kitchen equipment. He put down the ingredients went to cleaning up the pigsty of a makeshift kitchen.

“You know you don’t have to do that.” He heard someone say when he was in the middle of organizing knives. He looked up to see Muse, this time not holding the bloodied cloak.

“… Sorry.” He said.

“No no, it’s nice of you to do that but, it’s not required for you, we would’ve cleaned it up ourselves … or at least I would be the only one cleaning.” Said Muse.

“Cleaning um …” Mikleo started but he bit his lip. Muse’s eyes widened realizing that her son had developed nervous habits while growing up as he seemed to show themselves more and more with every word he tried to sputter out. She tried to reach for his shoulder but he backed away from her and suddenly his current actions and his words back at Marlind started to make sense to her. She put her hand down, looked at him and gave him a gentle smile.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. Okay?” She said. Mikleo nodded. She then looked over his shoulder to see what he managed to pick out from the back. “Any ideas on what to do with those?”

“… No …” Said Mikleo. “…You?”

“Wait here.” She said, but Mikleo went back to cleaning the kitchen when Muse came back with some spices and rice. “I think we can make a curry. Can you help me with the rice?” Some time after the two were sitting in the kitchen eating the curry. “How is it?”

“All right …” He said.

“You know if you don’t like it you can tell me.” Said Muse.

“It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that it feels like this curry has too much of some of the spices and it also needs something more … substantive like … maybe an egg or some meat?” Said Mikleo.

“Oh all right.” Said Muse. “If we have the budget for it we’ll gets some eggs.”

“Otherwise … I like it.” Said Mikleo.

“Aw, thank you!” Said Muse reaching around Mikleo to give him a one armed hug. He stiffened and Muse stopped. “Sorry.” Mikleo just simply nodded. “By the way, are you still unsure what to feel?”

“Kind of … if anything I’m just scared about what happened and if it’ll happen again.” Said Mikleo.

“Mikleo, it’ll be all right.” She said Mikleo sighed and rolled his eyes. “I’m serious, we’ll find a way to get Rose and Sorey back to normal. And if you’re worried about something talk to me okay? I’ll listen and keep it between us.”

“… All right.” Said Mikleo. At the same time as the other events Dezel stood outside staring in a direction that he doesn’t know. He sighed. More minutes passed and he sighed again. This continued on until the horse he stole walked up to him.

“I thought you would’ve left.” He said. The horse huffed. “Okay fair.” They were silent. The horse then nudged him. “What?” The horse nudged him again. “Do you want me to talk?” The horse huffed. “All right fine. We ran into the Lord of Calamity, he did something that blocked off Rose’s resonance … and Sorey’s, so nobody but you, some other people … I guess, and Muse can see us much less interact with us, we almost died because Sorey rode us off a cliff, and to top it all off Rose can’t use her Shepherd powers making her a useless stabby idiot, and no one knows how to fix it! You know I just … it’s just … Rose is my first and closest friend and I’d do anything to protect her. And I mean it. I left her in Lady Lake and briefly traveled with Lailah because I started to feel useless when she became the Shepherd and now this … this happens and I feel like a liability again.” The horse huffed again. “What do you think I’m bullshitting here? I really want to be useful to her! It’s not like I want her to see me again and give me shit on the animals I keep …”He said with his voice shaking. “I-it’s not that I want to talk to her again and give her tons of shit for every dumbass thing she does … and-and I don’t get a thrill everytime we armatize and I don’t like just talking to her about random meaningless shit.” Tears fell out of his eyes at that point. “It’s not like I care about her more than a friend and just want to always be by her side.” At that point his words turned into unintelligible blubbering with the horse looking at him. “Shut up!” He snapped at the horse. The horse didn’t make any other sounds or gestures, just licked him in the face. He then just hugged the horse pressing his face into its mane and stayed there for a long while. When he stopped crying he looked back to the horse. “Thanks. And don’t tell anyone about what happened okay?” The horse huffed. “What do you mean you don’t make any promises? No one is gonna understand you!” He snapped. “Oh forget it.”

“Yeah it’s not like the horse could see anyone watching you crying over not being able to interact with your best friend even though in hind sight you should’ve sensed us.” He heard Edna say.

“H-How long have you been here?” He snapped.

“A while.” She shrugged “Meebo and his mother were here for a moment to pick up that cloak Muse washed and left out to dry.”

“Don’t tell anyone about this got that. I’ll never hear the end of it if Rose knew I had ever cried.” Said Dezel.

“I’m not making any promises.” Said Edna.

“Do it and I’ll cut you.” Dezel threatened.

“Wow you’re so secure about your masculinity.” Said Edna. “And I would like to see you try.” She then jabbed him in the side with her umbrella.

“Ow! Hey!” Dezel shouted.

“I was only going to keep your little crush on Rose a secret but since you insist on being a bit of a brat. I suppose I should tell you everything you said to the horse.” Said Edna.

“What the hell do you want?” Dezel growled.

“Meebo is spending time with his mom and Rose is asleep I have to be an ass to somebody or I’ll cease to exist.” Said Edna.

“You just miss your punching bags don’t you?” Said Dezel. Edna jabbed him in the sides again. “Ow!”

“Quiet punching bag and let me throw sarcasm at you.” Said Edna. Dezel groaned thinking that this will be a very long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah there's gonna be a bit more filler before we get to anything plot related.


	29. Good Ol' Uncle Mayvin

Chapter 29: Good Ol’ Uncle Mayvin

Rose yawned as she started to prop herself up.

“Hey.” She said to a Sorey staring at the ceiling.

“Hey.” He groaned. She then turned to a Dezel with his face down.

“Mornin’.” She said before looking again. “Dezel?!”

“What?!” Sorey exclaimed trying to scramble out of bed but instead he fell out and landed flat on his face.

“Dezel!” Rose shouted. “Oh my god he turned human! His annoyance with me actually turned him human!” She heard a snort in her head. “Gah!”

 _“Wait … you heard that?”_ She heard Mikleo say.

“Wait … Mikleo? Edna are you guys here too?” Rose asked. The other two seraphim materialized infront of her just when Sorey was getting back up. “Where the hell have you guys been?”

“Well we’ve been in the hideout dicking off but otherwise very close by, if not right by you.” Said Edna.

“That’s weird what happened to us?” Sorey asked.

“We don’t know, and from the looks of it Muse doesn’t know either.” Said Mikleo.

“My guess is that Kitty Beard’s domain is so powerful that it completely overshadowed Rose’s and ended up blocking her resonance temporarily.” Said Edna.

“How the hell does a domain do that?” Rose asked. Edna gave her a blank stare. “What?” She then sighed.

“Have you ever considered what happens when two domains clash?” Edna asked.

“… No …?” Said Rose.

“Well when that happens the stronger of the domains overtake the weaker domains which ends up masking the effects of other domains. Since Kitty Beard’s domain was more powerful than yours it ends up cutting off your resonance and your shepherd’s powers which under normal circumstances you and your squires should be able to do in your domain.” Edna explained. “Long story short Kitty Beard has such a strong malevolent domain that it can block off all your Shepherdy stuff.”

“Oh.” Said Rose then looking over to the still sleeping Dezel. “Should we pretend that we can’t see seraphim when he wakes up?” Sorey stares at her with disgust.

“You’re terrible.” He said.

“Oh come on, it’ll be funny.” Said Rose.

“No.” Said Sorey.

“It’ll only be for an hour and who knows it might even throw off your boss.” Said Rose.

“If his boss wasn’t standing here watching the whole thing.” They heard Muse say. They turned to Muse in the door way.

“B-boss!” Sorey exclaimed.

“Well you seem pretty energetic Sorey. You doing better?” She goes up to him and touches his forehead to hers like she did the previous night.

“Hm … that fever is still around but it’s not as bad …” She muttered. “Maybe you should stay in bed for at least an extra day.”

“Aaaaw… really?” Sorey moaned.

“Yes really. Anyway it’s good to know that your resonance is back though it puts a bit of a damper on my plans.” Muse shrugged.

“What plans?” Rose asked.

“Well plans primarily having to do with trying to convince Zenrus to electrocute you.” Said Muse. “Chances are you might die but …”

“Please don’t finish that sentence boss.” Sorey interrupted.

“Ugh … be quiet …” They heard Dezel groan.

“Get up sleepy head.” Said Rose.

“Shut it Rose.” He groaned. Everyone was silent for a moment before his eyes shot open and she bolted straight up. “Rose?!” He exclaimed.

“Hey.” Said Rose.

“You-how-what the-WHAT?!” He stammered.

“Apparently I just needed a good night’s sleep.” Rose shrugged. He jumped out of bed and hugged her. “Wha- Dezel! You doing all right?” He then immediately let go.

“Uh … yeah.” Said Dezel then clearing his throat. “It was just a bit rough.”

“Well at least I can see you again for all its worth.” Said Rose, her stomach then started growling. She laughed nervously.

“Don’t worry I saved some breakfast for you two, get going before it gets even colder!” Said Muse, Rose rushed out of the kitchen

“You’re not gonna make me stay in bed?” Sorey questioned.

“Your fever’s not that bad, and you need to stretch your legs sometime.” Said Muse. “Believe me if it was any worse you’d be in bed. Now go on! Get there before Rose eats your share!” In the kitchen Rose was stuffing her face while Sorey picked at his food.

“Hey boss, do you know what happened after the battle after me and Rose left?” Sorey asked.

“Oh ya!” Rose said with her mouth full then swallowing. “What did happen after I made a real mess of things and the Lord of Calamity showing up causing us to book it?”

“Well … I got an informant telling me that the fighting has stopped due to Rolance being in too much of a dysfunctional mess thanks to you Shepherd and one of Hyland’s generals dying on the battle field causing them to back off.” Said Muse. “So I don’t think the war will continue any time soon.”

“Shit.” Rose muttered immediately thinking about purification not working on Landon.

“Maybe he got trampled.” Said Edna.

“Oh okay.” Said Rose.

“No I’m pretty sure he was stabbed multiple times and found with a sword sticking out of his chest.” Said Muse.

“Well if that’s the case I probably was behind some of those stabs but I knocked him out with the back of my knife! Though in all honesty I kind of don’t care how it happened I’m just relieved that I didn’t accidentally murder him like I did with the guys who were wielding the thing that’s next to the bed, which I know you know.” Said Rose.

“Yes I am aware of that.” Said Muse.

“So is it safe to go back to traveling?” Rose asked.

“Well I’d wait at minimum a couple days for things to cool down before going to the closest town to here, or even back to Hyland.” Said Muse.

“Oh! Speaking of which, did you bail out Mary Jane?” Rose asked.

“We did.” Said Muse. “We gave her some gald and sent her to Lastonbell. She should be able to find a job with an associate of ours.” Rose sighed and slumped back against the wall.

“Oh thank god.” She said. After breakfast Sorey was sent back to bed leaving Rose to wander the ruin completely bored out of her skull.

“Uuuuuugh! There’s nothing to do here!” She complained.

“Then go outside or something.” Said Mikleo.

“Can I do that?” Rose asked.

“I guess, I mean Dezel spent a good chunk of last night outside.” Mikleo shrugged.

“Okay let’s go.” Said Rose.

“What?” Said Mikleo.

“What are you doing?” Dezel sighed.

“I’m not gonna stray too far because I think if I did Muse would send someone to drag me back.” Said Rose going towards the ladder entrance.

“What are you doing?” Mikleo asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

“I’m gonna hunt for dinner.” Said Rose.

“Oh how cruel Rose you’re gonna murder an innocent animal infront of Dezel.” Said Edna with her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I’m not going.” Said Dezel before walking off to maybe look for some mice or something.

“Shall we?” Rose asked climbing the ladder and once she got outside she stretched her arms. “Ah fresh air!” She sighed. She then looked over to see the horse still there. “Hi.” She said. The horse simply huffed. She then walked near the forest.

 _“What are you doing?”_ Edna asked.

“Looking for something edible.” Said Rose. Just as she said that an adorable fluffy bunny stopped nearby. “That’ll do.” She slowly drew out her knives and slowly approached the rabbit. The rabbit looked up at her and she froze. _‘C’mon little guy don’t run…’_ She though as she bit the inside of her lip. The rabbit continued to stare at her. Edna went out of her body and rematerialized behind the rabbit.

“BOO!” She shouted startling the rabbit causing it to run.

“Edna- what- UUUUUUGH!” Rose screamed before she sprinted after the rabbit.

 _“You had to be a little shit hadn’t you.”_ Said Mikleo.

 _“I have no idea what you’re talking about Meebo.”_ Said Edna.

“Would you two shut up for a second?! I’m trying to kill a rabbit!” Rose shouted as she chased the rabbit straight into a burrow. She bent down and reached her hand in it she felt something fuzzy then a bite. “Ugh! Fuck! Ow!” She shouted getting her hand out while simultaneously flinging the rabbit into a tree which snapped its spine and crack its skull simultaneously thus having the rabbit die. Rose inhaled sharply “Ow … goddammit.” Mikleo got out of her body and healed her hand.

“Why did you think reaching in there was a good idea?” Mikleo sighed. “You have knives.”

“Because I’m pretty sure that’s not a rabbit burrow so the rabbit would’ve ran in deeper into the tunnel system if I tried to stab it.” Said Rose.

“You can ask us to flood the burrows or cause them to collapse.” Said Mikleo.

“What do you take me for? Lazy?” Said Rose. “At that point you’re pretty much a slave not a person.” She went over and picked up the dead rabbit. “Well we got something. Let’s head back.” On the way back they bumped into a very spry elderly man in a blue coat with a book strapped on his back and a rather short person that’s no taller than Edna. Dressed nicer than the man and carried a case for something.

“Hello there madam.” Said the man. “Are you familiar with the ruins near by?” He asked.

“Uuuuuuuh ….” Rose said.

“Mayvin!” She heard the Scattered Bone’s resident man whore, Mupvet, cheer. He came up to the man and gave him a one armed hug. “How’ve you been?”

“I’m quite well Mupvet.” Said Mayvin. “Found any more illegitimate children and exes that want to kill you?”

“I’ll … I’ll just tell the boss that you’re here …” Said Mupvet walking back slowly then sprinting back to the Scattered Bone’s hideout.

“Think he and I are related Uncle?” The other person joked.

“Too tall and doesn’t seem to have a knack for performing, no offense Andy.” Said Mayvin the other person laughed.

“Are … are you friends of the Scattered Bones?” Rose asked.

“He is, I just happen to be in town as the same time as my Uncle and figure we should spend some time with each other.” Said the other person.

“And you are …?” Rose asked.

“Andy Shorthalt.” Said Andy taking Rose’s hand. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance Shepherd.” They brought her hand up to their lips and teased at a kiss but then let go of her hand and gave them a wink. Mayvin laughed.

“Wait … how do you know I’m the Shepherd? I don’t even have my cloak on me.” Rose pointed out.

“I saw you in Lady Lake run off with the sacred blade.” Said Andy.

“I got a glimpse of you in Marlind helping out a soldier and I caught word of you messing up Rolance very recently.” Said Mayvin. “But I gotta say it’s rather unusual to have the Shepherd hang out with a group of assassins.”

“Well it’s a weird story.” Said Rose.

“Then why not tell it on the way?” Said Mayvin. “Shall we?”

“Eh. Sure.” Said Rose with a shrug. As they walked back to the ruins Rose told the story about how she convinced some guards that Muse was her mother and the time that they got into a toss up with Sorey. She decided to leave out anything about the Seraphim as she thinks they maight not believe in the Seraphim.

“Ha! Oh man you convinceing a guard that the Scattered Bones’ boss is your mother is like an old family story of mine. Actually no … many stories.” Laughed Andy.

“How so?” Rose asked.

“Well my Great Great Grandfather once traveled with a Shepherd.” Said Andy. “And they snuck into a thieves’ guild in Pendrago, which I’m sure doesn’t exist now, and they were caught sneaking around and my Great Great Grandfather pulled out this badge to convince the guild that they were from customs and the guild ended up backing off and let them take care of any business they had.”

“Huh.” Said Rose. “Was this Shepherd rather morally ambiguous?” She then asked remembering one of Sorey’s references to previous Shepherds.

“I dunno.” Andy shrugged. “I know my Great Great Grandfather wasn’t exactly known for being morally outstanding or for being particularly honest for that matter. But hey at least my worst offense is being real damn cute.” Rose smirked.

“Yeah keep telling yourself that.” Said Rose.

“Oh? What’s this? Have I found someone that’s not confused and slightly aroused?” Andy mockingly questioned leaning in close to Rose.

“Andy…” Mayvin said sternly.

“Well it’s true.” Said Andy with a laugh. “Even the married ones are confused and aroused with one look.”

 _“I’m not.”_ Said Edna.

“Well you can’t get everyone.” Said Rose.

“Truer words have never been spoken.” Said Mayvin. About that time they arrived at the ruins and Muse came up. “Oh Milady.”

“Hello Mayvin.” Said Muse. “What brings you to these parts? And who is this?”

“Hello Miss, I am Andy Shorthalt. Performer extrodinare.” Andy introduced themself.

“Are you now?” Said Muse snickering a little.

“Oh come now Miss I’m sure you’ve seen me at an Inn somewhere. Usually with a motley crew of musicians.” Said Andy.

“Hm … now that you mention it … I think I may have seen you in a few towns.” Said Muse.

“See? Performer extrodinare!” Andy boasted.

 _“I think they’re stretching it.”_ Said Mikleo.

“Anyway Milady I heard that war broke out close to here and I was hoping if you managed to escape it unharmed.” Said Mayvin.

“We’re all right.” Said Muse. “Though with tensions still being high it’s only a matter of time before another battle breaks out. So I think it might be time to abandon this hideout.”

“I think that would be the best.” Said Mayvin. “By the way, how is Sorey doing?”

“He caught a fever a while back.” Said Muse. “Though he’s doing better now and I think he’ll be happy for the company.” Mayvin laughed a little.

“I’m sure he will.” He looks to Rose. “He sure does make some unsusal friends.”

“Hey! What does that mean?” Rose pouted.

“Yeah. He kind of does.” Said Muse. She then looked over to Rose. “It’s not just you Rose, trust me on this.” The group went into the hide out then the room the guild slept in to find a Sorey reading the Celestial Record along with some other books namely _Ashari Customs, Vox Machina: Myths and Facts,_ and _History on relations between the Glennwood Continent and the Kingdom of Northfell._ Rose gave Muse a ‘shouldn’t he be asleep?’ look. “It’s not a bad fever and the boy gets bored.” She defended. Sorey looked up.

“Mayvin!” He gasped putting the book down and nearly jumping out of bed.

“AH!” Muse warned. “Stay there.” Sorey groaned. Mayvin gave a light laugh and sat on his bed.

“What have you been doing since the last time I saw you?” Mayvin asked.

“Well aside from getting sick and the boss sending me on missions I’ve been looking around the Lady Lake Aqueducts. Although there are some things I can’t access due to the current regime sealing it off so I would need access to something pertaining to the royal family. However I managed to find an enterence that went underwater and there you can find some pre-Asgardian carvings and structures, which I presume that the current Lady Lake ended up being built upon.” Said Sorey, though it was making Rose very bored.

“Pre-Asgardian structures?” Mikleo inquired. Edna came out and jabbed him as if to say ‘shut up we’re in front of non resonant people!’

“Any theories on when those might be from?” Mayvin asked.

“Well I’m thinking it might be from either the Temperence of Avarost or around the time a certain legend took place according to the Ashari. However I couldn’t get a good enough look at the structures since I can’t breathe underwater and all.” Said Sorey. At this point Rose was only pretending to pay attention and her eyelids were starting to feel heavy.

“Sorey, have you tried figuring out these ruins yet?” Mayvin asked.

“No … no not yet.” Said Sorey.

“I recommend you take a look into it.” Said Mayvin pulling out his own copy of the Celestial Record. “As this is a ruin that isn’t in the Celestial Record.”

“Yeah no kidding, and I can’t seem to find something like this in any other book, well except for the Ashari Tales but in all honesty there are other ruins scattered across Glennwood that fit the description of what was once known as the Auragrounds.” Said Sorey.

“The what now?” Rose aksed.

“An ancient facility that the Ashari utilized for some important ritual that basically dictates leadership among them. Though according to them they got abandoned and then repurposed for darker means.” Said Edna.

“Um … s-some ritual … facility um … I think.” Said Sorey summing up the first part of Edna’s explanation and poorly pretending he didn’t. “Though honestly I would like to try to figure this place out. After all you can’t know the meaning of legends after you’ve seen the history yourself.”

“Well said!” Said Mayvin. “However Sorey I recommend against staying here for too long, along with you Milady.”

“Huh? How come?” Sorey asked.

“The appearance of a Shepherd, new clouds of war, rumors of the resurgence of the Flamestone Firecracker, all lead to something going to happen. The winds of change are approaching fast.” Said Mayvin. Sorey looked over to Rose then back at Mayvin. “And with that we’ll take our leave.”

“Already?” Sorey asked.

“Well I have to get back to Lastonbell with my crew.” Said Andy.

“I have other places to be as well.” Said Mayvin. “Until we meet again, Sorey, Shepherd, Milady.” And the duo left.

“Flamestone Firecracker?” Rose asked. Edna snickered.

“Yeah … that’s what we call the thing you brought in.” Said Sorey. “It’s a weapon that appeared over two hundred years ago and native to Flamestone as the inventor was a Flamestone native and they primarily stayed in Flamestone for some reason.”

"Zenrus and I discussed the reason while you and Rose were asleep.” Said Edna.

“Well what is it?” Rose asked.

“I don’t want to ruin it for our resident nerd.” Said Edna.

“Dammit.” Said Rose.

“Don’t worry Rose, when I find out I’ll tell you.” Said Sorey. “Anyway around the time Flamestone according to any records on Vox Machina and anything talking about Northfell discuss that around two hundred years ago Flamestone had this thing called Firecracker Alley. Which, according to records, was the place where Flamestone’s enlisted military would be trained in using these. So because of that it ended up being called the Flamestone Firecracker.”

“You seem to know a lot about two hundred years ago.” Said Mikleo.

“Well yeah because it’s an interesting time. It felt like a time where the world broke and turned into something rather unusual, well I mean it’s the same world but at the same time it’s different, all because of a motley group of adventurers.” Said Sorey.

“Okay you lost me at the ‘broke the world’ deal.” Said Rose.

“Yeah no kidding.” Said Dezel.

“Well what I mean is that everything seemed to change to the contrary.” Said Sorey. “I mean according to the Celestial record and other sources that discuss anything before Vox Machina there were unusual plagues, strange weather patterns, Glennwood was Isolated for centuries, the north was declining and splitting up into various separate tribes, and Glennwood lost a lot of its shipbuilding information, and it may have been a time with a lot of malevolence as, for anyone resonant, Lords of Calamity popped up everywhere. The world looked like it was going into decline however Vox Machina pops up and then the north establishes the Kingdom of Northfell with Flamestone as its capital, a few ships got built, even though there weren’t many voyages that left the continent and then the ship building information got subsiquently lost, and everything related to the plagues, malevolence, and Lords of Calamity seemed to disappear. Not only that but names like; Shorthalt, Vessar, Trickfoot, and de Rolo, started becoming well known, and people like the Ashari and Heard of Storms became prominent even though many historians thought they died off long before then. It felt like the world had drastically shifted to a different path because of Vox Machina.”

“So that’s what you meant.” Said Rose.

“Yeah, and their actions gave us a lot of questions which I want to find answers to so it can help me with my dream.” Said Sorey.

“And what is that? … If you don’t mind me asking.” Mikleo asked.

“To have Seraphim and Humans coexist.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah with all the D&D monsters popping up and the Critical Role references that range from very blatant to going over everyone's heads this is basically a Critical Role crossover now ... even though most if not all of Vox Machina is dead before the story even started.
> 
> And remember kids the difference between attempting to make something work in universe and pulling it out of your ass is how well you can justify it.


	30. Traps and Switches

Chapter 30: Traps and Switches

A few hours later Sorey fell asleep reading and everyone else left for some other business.

“Okay how are you still opposed to him becoming your squire?” Dezel asked Rose. “His hopes and dreams are so sincere that you can’t pick up any malevolence from him! It’s adorable!”

“One, he could stab me in the back, and two his health will cause setbacks unless we find something that prevents fevers and coughing spells that leave him bed ridden.” Said Rose.

“Okay while I can’t argue about the health because yeah there’s nothing we can do about that.” Said Mikleo. “However if he wanted to stab you in the back or if Muse wanted you dead they would’ve done it by now.”

“You’re not arguing the health.” Said Rose. “We all know it’s going to be something that will set us back. So just on the sheer frequency of him getting sick we’re not bringing him.”

“But …” Mikleo tried to speak up.

“No.” Said Rose. “I don’t care how competent he is, how sincere his dreams are, how in line he can put me, or how honest he is. I’m not making him my squire.”

“Then what the hell are you gonna do? Try to get Sergei back?” Asked Dezel.

“No, we all remember what happened with him, as it was just a few days ago.” Said Edna.

“That still doesn’t answer my what would Rose do question.” Said Dezel.

“Look I don’t know! All I know is that I’m not going to make Sorey my squire.” Said Rose. “We’re probably gonna stay here for another week so after that we can go look for a different squire in Rolance or try to get one of the other Scatter Sparks -.”

“Scatter Sparks?” Dezel interrupted.

“The nickname I have for the Scattered Bones and Light Sparks.” Said Rose. “They’re the same thing so why not just mash the names together!”

“Just as long as you don’t call them that to their faces or in public.” Said Edna.

“What do you take me for?” Said Rose.

“A moron.” Said Edna.

“Hey!” Rose snapped.

The next day Rose found Sorey, now in an outfit that Rose hadn’t seen him in before which was a black shirt with a white hoodie thing under a blue jacket with black pants, permanently dirt stained white boots, and for some reason belts around his boots and across his chest and waist, infront of a strange looking sealed door.

“What’cha doin’?” She asked.

“Hm … trying to find a way to open this door. We’ve been here for months and I haven’t found anything.” Said Sorey.  Mikleo came out of Rose and started looking around.

“Think it might be triggered by a switch of some sorts?” Mikleo asked.

“Well that’s the problem there’s no switch next to it.” Said Sorey.

“Sorey.” Said Zenrus getting his attention. “Do you remember what I said about Pre Asgardian ruins?”

“Yeah, switches tend not to be obvious and end up being in other place-Oh!” Sorey exclaimed. “Mikleo! Let’s try looking for something that could function as a switch around here!”

“… All right …” Said Mikleo “… Why me?”

 “You’re the only one here that likes ruins and has read the Celestial Record.” Said Sorey.

“Okay, I’ll help.” Said Mikleo. So the two went around searching for for a switch. Around the time Muse came back to Rose with a cleaned out cloak.

“Before you do something, I just want to give this back to you.” Said Muse. Rose looked at the cloak but she had a hard time knowing there was a bloodstain on it.

“Thanks.” Said Rose.

“Don’t worry too much about it.” Said Muse. “The least I could do if you’re not going to take Sorey with you.”

“You’re still at it?” Rose asked.

“Yes.” Said Muse bluntly.

“I could come and watch over him if you’d like.” Said Zenrus.

“And what can you do old man?” Rose asked.

“Be respectful or I’ll make due on Muse’s idea for regaining your resonance.” Said Zenrus. Rose stiffened and shivered.

“Yes sir.” She said quickly.

“I’m a centuries old seraph that has a domain that is not so easily overpowered by any hellion.” Said Zenrus. “Plus I have control over lightning and judging from a recent find it could help.”

“How so?” Rose asked. Zenrus pulled out a plain white cloak with a gold lining around it.

“This is a divine artifact that Sorey managed to find a couple months ago. It’s lightning affiliated and something like this is very rare as seraphim with elements outside of earth, fire, water, and wind are very few and far between making it very unlikely to get into a pact with them, much less a sub lord pact. And we don’t know of a lightning armatus ever existing in history so it would be interesting to test out.” Said Zenrus. “Granted if it isn’t unstable and could kill us.”

“Okay the lightning armatus stuff sounds really damn cool, but I thought you were opposed to having Sorey come along.” Said Rose.

“I am. On his own, however if I were to come along I could keep an eye on him and his health to prevent any set backs.” Said Zenrus.

“But what happens when he inevitably does get sick?” Rose asked.

“You go ahead. We’ll find you and catch up.” Said Zenrus.

“I don’t like that prospect.” Said Rose. “And it just lost my interest in changing my mind so I’m still not doing it.”

“… Worth a shot.” Said Zenrus with a shrug and just as he said it the door opened and Sorey and Mikleo came running back.

“Oh my god it worked.” Said Mikleo.

“Oh my god it worked!” Sorey repeated in a more cheerful tone. “Thank you Mikleo!”

“It’s nothing.” Said Mikleo.

“Hey you saw the thing sticking out of the ground.” Said Sorey.

“Well you’re the one that pressed it.” Said Mikleo.

“Can we stop talking and do your nerd thing now?” Rose asked.

“Uh … you’re coming?” Sorey questioned.

“Hey, someone has to bail you out if you run into a hellion or something.” Said Rose.

“Right! Let’s go!” Cheered Sorey as Enda and Dezel went back into her body. They walked into the ruins with Zenrus.

“Have fun!” Muse called as Rose ended up running ahead. She saw a leaver sticking out of the wall and against her better judgement she went up to it and jumped on it.

“Rose! Don’t touch everything you see!” Sorey tried to warn her but her weight pulled down the leaver causing her to fall back closing the door behind her. “Okay … can you try pushing that leaver back up so the door can open?” Sorey asked. Rose started trying to push the leaver up to no avail.

“Dezel can you help me with this?” She asked. Dezel gave a frustrated sigh and got out of her helped her push up the leaver with no success. “Uh … Sorey … I think this thing is stuck.”

“And I’m not finding a keyhole either.” Said Sorey.

“Woops.” Said Rose.

“Oh don’t you ‘woops’ me!” Sorey snapped.

“Well hey look on the bright side, this place would’ve lead to a dead end if I haven’t pulled that leaver.” Said Rose with a shrug. She heard a very long and very drawn out sigh from the other side of the door.

“What am I going to do?” He groaned.

“Well I’m gonna check out what’s there, sit tight!” She said while walking off.

“What else would I do?!” Sorey shouted.

 _“Think he’s mad?”_ Edna asked in a very sarcastic fashion.

“Whatever yould make you think that?” Rose asked as she and Dezel wandered into a separate chamber. There she saw a corridor that lead to a room next to the chamber Sorey was stuck in. Rose could see him, Mikleo and Zenrus from small windows in wall, nearby there was a wall full of various buttons and switches.

“Oh what do these do?” Rose mused to herself. “Hey Edna can you do what Dezel does and sense where these levers and buttons go to?” Rose then asked.

“So that’s why this room feels a bit weird.” Dezel muttered.

 _“Dezel couldn’t ‘see’ those buttons what makes you think I could detect shit that could be underground or in the walls?”_ Said Edna.

“… What does this thing do?” She said reaching out for a leaver.

“Should you really-?” Dezel started before she pulled a leaver.

“Gah! What the?!” They heard Sorey shout.

“Hellions!” They also heard Mikleo shout simultaneously.

“Wait what? What happened?” Said Dezel.

“Oh a bunch of snakes fell in on them … Well Mikleo is purifying them, Zenrus is doing nothing while Sorey … Gah!” She said before backing away from the small window as a snake head and spine flew through the small window. Enda came out and started poking at the snake carnage.

“Oh god! Sorry! … Sorry!” They heard Sorey cry.

“… Ew.” She said. Rose then peeked back in.

“You all right in there?” She asked.

“Let’s see … a bunch of snakes fell from the ceiling and tried to kill us. What do you think?” Sorey growled.

“Fantastic.” Said Rose. “I’ll go pull more switches and press more buttons until you’re free.”

“You suck!” Sorey shouted.

“I know!” Rose shouted back. She then pressed another button, and then another one, but she heard no reaction from the buttons she pressed. “I don’t hear any screaming, are you guys okay in there?”

“Fine!” They heard Zenrus call.

“Okay!” She called. She then pulled another switch.

“Hey! What the?!” They heard Mikleo shout.

“Wha- Smoke?! Crap!” Sorey shouted.

“There are switches on the ground.” Said Zenrus calmly. And shortly later they heard coughing.

“Sorey!” They heard Zenrus shout.

“Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!” Rose said through her teeth frantically pushing buttons and pulling switches. Until they heard a click. However Sorey was still violently coughing.

“It’s all right.” They heard Mikleo say. “The smoke’s gone it’s all right now.” They heard the coughing slowly transistion to heavy breathing.

“Thanks.” Panted Sorey. Rose waited for a bit before pulling more switches until she heard a click and a door opening. She peeked through the small window to see the trapped three, in the room then looking behind them to see the open door.

“Are you doing all right Sorey?” Zenrus asked.

“Yeah … yeah I’m fine.” Said Sorey. “But … can we rest a bit?”

“Okay, but we’re going back right after.” Said Zenrus.

“What?” Sorey exclaimed.

“Your coughing fit.” Said Zenrus. “It could’ve killed you if Mikleo hadn’t stopped the smoke and used healing artes on you.”

“But Gramps, I’m fine …” Sorey tried to argue.

“No you’re not.” Said Zenrus. “You’ve been saying things like that since you were a little and you never ended up being fine.”

“But-…” Sorey started.

“I don’t want to have this conversation again, after you take a breather we’re going back to the hideout.” Said Zenrus. Mikleo stayed quiet the whole time then went back to Rose.

“About damn time.” Said Rose.

 _“Eh, didn’t really want to come back while we were having fun in what we assume to be an experiment chamber.”_ Said Mikleo.

“Well I think we had enough fun for today, let’s head back.” Said Rose. She then stepped on something which caused the floor to come out from under her and spat her out in a different room, she screamed as she fell then landed on her face. “Okay what the hell.” Then she felt a malevolent domain and a giant lizard man hellion jumped out of nowhere. “Oh come on!” She screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Sorey become a squire next chapter? Though the more accurate question is what the hell would the Lightning armatus that I pulled out of my ass because why the hell not do? And is it more feasible than the goddamn rainbow armatus? Or would it be very viable in the game? Wait till the next chapter comes out ... whenever.


	31. Squire Sorey

Chapter 31: Squire Sorey

Rose groaned on the ground while the hellion just looked at her.

“You know you’re either being awfully nice or you’re just pitying me.” Said Rose.

“I’m going for the latter because that’s a dragonnewt.” Said Dezel.

“Meaning …?”

“It’s a type of young dragon that probably would’ve killed you by now if you weren’t looking so pathetic.” Said Dezel.

“Oh …” Said Rose then getting up. “Let’s just purify you and get this over with.”

“I’m pretty sure that like drakes, dragonnewts are pretty strong and have a high chance of killing you.” Said Dezel.

“You gotta be kidding me.” She sighed. She got up and drew her knives.

 _“Yeah this looks like a situation where you need to run if it starts looking hairy.”_ Said Edna. _“Welp, nice knowing you.”_

“Hey!” Rose snapped.

“Let’s just try to weaken it as much as we can.” Said Dezel. “Then make a break for it.”

“But I’m gonna do most of the heavy hitting because of a broken pendulum right?” Said Rose.

“Not if we armatize.” Said Dezel.

“Fair point.” Said Rose. “Lukeim Yurlin …” They flew out of the way of the hellion’s sword swing then countered with a dragon blitz and a flurry of other attacks. However the dragonnewt barely looked affected. It gave Rose a smirk, or something similar since lizards don’t have lips, cocked its head then it swung its sword down on Rose. “Whoa!” She shouted as she rolled out of the way. “Think we should go for the arial advantage?”

 _“Yeah probably.”_ Said Dezel.

 _“Wait don’t-!”_ Mikleo tried to shout but Rose flew up to the ceiling and then smashed her head. _“I tried to tell you, we’re in an enclosed environment you can’t really fly that hight, just hover somewhere between the floor and the ceiling.”_

 _“However that was hilarious.”_ Said Edna.

“Ugh dammit …” Rose growled. She dodged another slash but in order to do so she ended up flying into a wall. “Ugh! This isn’t working! Mikleo, Edna can you help me out here?” She dearmatized and Mikleo and Edna came out.

“I’ll be … I’ll be over here then with healing.” Said Dezel pointing to a nondescript direction and went somewhere. So Rose rushed up to the dragonnewt to slash at it or stab it while the seraphim casted seraphic artes then Rose would get knocked back which lead the dragonnewt to attack one of the casters to which Rose would have to stumble up to get back at the hellion while it was busy fighting Mikleo or Edna (or chasing Dezel). Then the cycle repeated all over again.

“Rose!” They heard Sorey shout she quickly turned behind her to see him running towards her with Zenrus slowly approaching behind. However his breathing was much heavier than it would be if he was healthy.

“No.” Said Rose. “You just nearly coughed to death! There’s no way you should be up and about!”

“You’re not the one who raised me Rose!” Sorey snapped back drawing out his sword and dodging the hellion. “I’m going to help you whether you like it or not!”

“Then help me by getting out of here and not being a liability!” Rose shouted slashing the dragonnewt. However the dragonnewt wipped its tail having Rose slam into a wall.

“I’m not dying I’m good enough to fight!” Sorey shouted ducking when the dragonnewt swung its sword and slashing a leg when he got low. The dragonnewt stumbled forward but caught itself.

“You can’t even purify any hellions!” Said Rose.

“Then let me be your squire so I can!” Said Sorey.

“How do you ..? Why am I even questioning this of course you know about squires you’re around Muse all the time!” Rose muttered to herself before turning to Sorey and telling him “No!”

“Well why not? It’s not like I’ll die if you die or anything that!” Snapped Sorey.

“It can happen how do you know?” Rose snapped back.

“Muse would be dead and Mikleo would’ve never been born!” Sorey shouted.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Rose shouted back.

“Muse was part of the S.H.I.T.S.” Said Mikleo rather bluntly. “Freeze Lancer!” And a bunch of icicles shot forward hitting the dragonnewt. However the creature only seem to have gotten angrier and attempted to split Mikleo in half, however he fortunately got out of the way.

“What?” Rose exclaimed throwing a knife at the dragonnewt.

“Yes she was part of the S.H.I.T.S.!” Edna confirmed. “How else would she have knowledge about seraphim, the Lord of Calamity, armitization, and squires? Hell Zenrus basically flat out confirmed that she was part of the S.H.I.T.S. back in Lady Lake! I don’t see how you missed that!”

“So what you mean to tell me is that, for one the ring leader of the S.H.I.T.S. died sometime before Mikleo was born, and Muse was one of his squires. Meaning that if squires died whenever Shepherds did, Muse would be dead right now and we wouldn’t have Mikleo around?” Rose asked.

“Yes! I just said that!” Sorey shouted then getting knocked back.

“You’re still not going to be my squire.” Said Rose. Sorey then blocked one of the hellion’s claw attacks with its sword.

“I am currently defending myself just fine against an overgrown lizard while not at a hundred percent and just with a sword.” Sorey commented. “How the hell are you still insisting that I not become your freaking squire?!”

“Just cuz.” Said Rose.

“For the love of …” Dezel sighed and grabbed Rose and pulled her aside.

“What the- Dezel what the hell are you doing?” Rose shouted.

“This is getting out of hand!” Said Dezel.

“What?” Said Rose.

“You blatantly refusing Sorey to be your squire even though he is qualified as fuck.” Said Dezel.

“But his illness …” Said Rose.

“Zenrus agreed to take care of that. Aside from that he saved your life, he figure out a puzzle in the ruins, he has a good chunk of knowledge about Shepherd stuff as well as various things in history, he warned the soldiers in Marlind about the war, and he’s held his own against hellions and yet you blatantly refuse to let him join us. Why is that?” Said Dezel, “And don’t give me the illness stuff as that can be taken care of and it feels like lying at this point. I know there’s something else.”

“He has other obligations.” Said Rose.

“Really. Muse seems pretty okay with letting him go on adventures away from the guild.” Said Dezel. “Don’t lie to me Rose.”

“Right you can pick that up.” Rose muttered.

“Fess up. What is it.” Said Dezel.

“I don’t mean to interrupt you two but hurry up!” Edna snapped while casting a seraphic arte, “Air pressure!” The arte forced the dragonnewt to one knee and dropping its weapon leaving an opening for Sorey and Mikleo to slash it and whack it over the head respectively. The hellion then lashed its tail at the two but they dodged out of the way. It then picked up its weapon leapt in the air and slashed down at Edna slicing open a forearm. Mikleo healed the wound but then the dragonnewt turned its attention to him.

“Oh no …” He said under his breath then quickly blocking a slice from its sword. He then jumped back but couldn’t cast any artes because the hellion kept gaining ground on him having him block its attacks and then landing a few lucky bows on it. Then Edna came in and jabbed it in the back. It then turned to her and growled.

“Yeah, what are you going to do about it you sad stupid lizard?” She insulted. It growled then went attacking her. She jumped in the air and opened her umbrella making her landing seem a little bit more floaty. She then spun around whacking the hellion in its gut which gave Sorey an opportunity to slash it in the back. He then stood by Edna.

“You all right?” He asked.

“Yeah. Honestly I’m somewhat glad you and Meebo got my back.” Said Edna.

“That’s an adorable nickname.” Said Sorey.

“It might be less adorable if you call him that to his face. However it is hilarious in my opinion.” Said Edna with Sorey blocking the hellion’s sword. Meanwhile Dezel was still staring at Rose waiting for her answer.

“Well?” He said starting to get impatient.

“I just … I just don’t want other humans to get involved.” Said Rose.

“You got Sergei involved.”

“Things change in a few weeks.” Said Rose. “The Shepherd’s duty has now turned into something that is beyond us something that no human can comprehend. And if we try to tell anyone most people will simply not believe us and if they do I honestly fear they will go mad from the revelation. Plus there’s also the factor that governments will try to use us and Sorey will get caught up in the middle of it and if it gets out that he’s part of the Scattered Bones we’re dead. So I believe I should take the Shepherd’s duty on my own with you seraphim.”

“You’re being ridiculous.” Said Dezel.

“It’s true!” Said Rose.

“I know. But this taking on the Shepherd’s burden on your own crap? It’s ridiculous.” Said Dezel.

“And how pray tell is it?”

“Because you’re only human and under too much stress humans will break.” Said Dezel. “Which is something that will happen to you if you continue with this ‘you have to go at it alone because humanity doesn’t comprehend’ crap. It will break you. If that happens you’re not gonna be of much use if you’re a broken Shepherd and someone else will have to take the job, whether it’s Sorey, Muse, Sergei or literally anyone else.” Rose’s eyes widened as if she had a ‘holy shit’ realization. “However it won’t end up like this if you just let him in. And honestly anything doing with the Scattered Bones is Sorey’s descision and how much we end up in that mess is up to him.” Rose gritted her teeth and sighed.

“I hate it when you’re right …” She muttered. She then turned to Edna. “Hey Edna can you make that squire’s pact?”

“Well … sure … but we’re kind of busy at the moment.” Said Edna. Rose sighed and ran in.

“Hey! Hellion over here!” She shouted waving her arms. “Think you can manage with just seraphic artes?”

“Well just as long as you and Mikleo keep it away from me I’ll be fine.” Said Dezel. Rose ran in and slashed the hellion’s stomach.

“Rose … I’m gonna need you to give him a true name.” Said Edna.

“Um … uh … fuck!” She muttered blocking the sword. “Pethdak Kiwat!”

“Really?” She heard Sorey say.

“You heard her. C’mon boy pact. Now.” Said Edna.

“But Pethdak isn’t even a word!”

“Yell at her about it later.” Said Edna then grabbing his hand. Meanwhile Rose and the remaining two seraphim distracted the dragonnewt through various attacks with Dezel staying in the back taking care of any healing and using only seraphic artes while Rose and Mikleo were more physical to prevent the dragon newt from attacking Dezel as for one it wants to kill the main healer first. When the pact was done Sorey rushed in and attacked the hellion from behind. While Zenrus went up to Edna and started to make the sublord pact with her.

“So glad you can join us.” Said Rose.

“Yeah.” Said Sorey as the two dodged a downward slice from the dragonnewt. “So that super powered thing you did, the armatus was it?”

“Don’t act coy with me you know full well it’s called the armatus!” Rose snapped stabbing the hellion’s tail.

“Okay yeah I know that but how exactly do you activate it?” Sorey asked.

“Just say their true names.” Said Rose. “Lukeim Yurlin for Dezel, Luzrov Rulay for Mikleo, and Hepsind Yulind for Edna.”

“That was a bit fast can you repeat that?” Asked Sorey.

“Just say one of them!” Rose shouted as she then got slammed against the wall.

“L-Lukeim Yurlin!” He shouted and almost immediately after he was briefly emitted in a white light giving him a similar appearance as Rose has while armatized with the side ponytail with the flower, the green accents specific to Dezel, the heavy boots, the single glove, and the ribbons absolutely everywhere over an almost pure white outfit. However the differences ended up being his legs being covered and the sleeveless long coat like tunic.

“Aw man why does he get the cool looking one.” Rose muttered.

“That’s because it’s based off of what my brother would wear.” Said Edna just having finish up the pact.

“Though this could change what yours looks like.” Said Zenrus tossing her the cloak.

“Your name … I barely heard it but from the gist of it I guess it’s Fivwress Zubwek, right?” Said Rose. Zenrus nodded.

“You guessed right.” He said.

“Fivwress Zubwek!” Rose shouted and the armatus that came out of it had pure golden accents and the cloak with the hood up covering up the majority of the default armatus. “Nice.” Said Rose looking at the cloak’s transformation.

 _“Now, shall we see what this can do?”_ Zenrus asked.

“Oh hell yeah!” Rose shouted running into the fray just as Sorey seemingly learned the capabilities of the wind armatus until he ran into much of the same difficulties Rose had run into when using the armatus in tight quarters.

“No … no this isn’t working.” Sorey muttered to himself separating himself from Dezel. “Luzrov Rulay!” He shouted then armatizing with Mikleo. He ducked out of the way and whacked the dragonnewt with the bow to back up a ways from the hellion before he shoots it which angers it and charges at Sorey. Rose meanwhile was standing around trying to figure out how the lightning armatus works.

“Come on … work! … Lightning!” She shouted and nothing happened.

 _“I suggest you stick to seraphic artes for now.”_ Said Zenrus.

“... Fine …” Rose sighed focusing her energy into the arte with Zenrus guiding her through the incantation.

 _“Thunder of the heavens guide us to our foes to strike them down!”_ They changed. _“Guiding Bolt!”_ A bolt of lightning shot from Rose’s hands and struck the hellion zipping around their allies. The hellion shrieked in pain as it froze up and it temporarily glowed like a beacon. It then shook off the effects of the lightning it then turned to snarl at Rose then started charging at her.

“Shit!” She muttered under her breath as the hellion just bit down on her however she felt a spark of electricity surge through her then shot back at the hellion causing the jaw to slacken to Rose could get away. She grabbed her shoulder but she felt no wound and then looked to her hand to see no blood. “That’s weird.” She commented.

 _“It looks like it has a focus on counterattacking.”_ Said Zenrus. _“This means that you’re gonna have to get hurt a lot …”_

“Well that’s just damn perfect for me isn’t it?” Said Rose. Then getting whacked by the hellion’s having Rose then reflect the pain to the hellion in the form of lighning shouting “Rebound Bolt!” The hellion snarled and got away from Rose and went back to focusing on Sorey who shot a saint’s arrow and followed it up on other attacks. “Sorey!” She shouted he ducked out of the way of the blade and she cut infront of him which made the hellion turn around and focus on Edna. “Hey!” She whined.

 _“Now to be fair if I was still a lich and I kept getting electrocuted when I hit you I’d focus on someone else too.”_ Said Mikleo.

“Yeah, I’d also stop stabbing you if you ended up electrocuting me.” Said Sorey. Rose glared at him like she was plotting to murder him then sighed.

“Fine. I’ll just run around like an idiot preventing it from hitting anyone while everyone else shoots it.” Said Rose then stomping off to defend Edna while Dezel was healing her and blasting the hellion with seraphic artes and Sorey continued to shoot at it while occasionally casting Arrow Squall. When she stepped in front of Edna the dragonnewt stopped and went to attack Dezel repeating the cycle again until Sorey knocked it out with a good headshot with azure assault which if that didn’t ended up being over kill by running up to it and slamming it into the ground with Splitting torrent certainly ended up being so. The malevolence returned to the earth and the hellion turned into a dog. Dezel gave an excited gasp.

“Not yet Dezel, it’s a seraph, you have to ask before you can pet it.” Said Edna. Dezel groaned.

“It’s over … right?” Sorey asked panting.

“The Shepherding stuff, no, this particular fight, yes.” Said Rose separating from Zenrus.

“You did well Sorey.” Said Zenrus as Sorey and Mikleo separated.

“Gramps? You-?” Sorey started but then he went into a coughing fit.

“Sorey?” Rose and Dezel exclaimed.

“No … I thought you were okay!” Mikleo cried simultaneously. However Sorey collapsed to his knees and everyone started to see blood trickle from the hand covering his mouth. Mikleo quickly started using a healing arte on him. However it didn’t help as he passed out shortly after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure that no matter what cypher you use for the ancient tongue "pethdak" will be some form of gibberish. And hooray! An armatus form that would be totally impractical in the game/manga/light novel while making you look like a useless scrub in the anime as since attacking requires you getting hit you're gonna be real dead real quick.


	32. A Few Things Picked Up

Chapter 32: A Few Things Picked Up

They rushed Sorey, and the dog seraph, back to the hideout and laid him on the bed. Around that time Rose groaned and put her hand to her head.

“Rose?” She heard Dezel say.

“I’m all right, I just feel little dizzy right now.” She said.

“You’re probably fine.” Said Zenrus. “That can happen after exhausting yourself.”

“Okay … Think Sorey will be all right … after coughing up some blood?” Rose asked.

“To be honest I don’t know, I think it has to do with the coughing fit in the experiment chamber then getting into an intense fight right after that caused it.” Said Zenrus. “He probably won’t be able to do anything for at least another week.” Just when he said that Muse came running in.

“Is he all right?” She asked panicked.

“Um … he’s still breathing if that’s what you’re asking.” Said Rose. Muse looked at her as if to tell her that now is not the time for her antics and went over to Sorey and checked to see if he had a fever. She sighed, however it sounded like a mix of relief and frustration.

“This is the third time this month.” She growled. “What happened in there? And why is there a dog?”

“Well … we were dicking around in the ruins and I pulled a trap that ended up producing a bunch of smoke which didn’t bide well with Sorey so Mikleo had to turn off the trap, then not long after I got into a fight with a hellion in which he ended up joining and making the squire pact with me and we defeated it which and it turns out to be the dog. Then he started coughing up blood and passed out.” Said Rose.

“Blood?!” Muse exclaimed. She then collapsed on the bed. “Oh no … oh no no no no no no no no no no no no …”

“Muse…?” They heard Mikleo say.

“It’s only gotten this bad only five times before …” She said. “I sincerely hope it was him over working himself and not a sign of whatever’s plaguing him getting worse.”

“What?! That’s a sign of his health getting worse?!” Rose exclaimed. “Goddammit! I knew his health would be a problem!”

“Not always.” Said Zenrus. “Sometimes it just happens if he is pushed too far.”

“Is there a way to help him recover?” Rose asked.

“I would say use an elixir but they’re far too expensive, rare, and heavily regulated for it to be of any help.” Said Muse. “All we’ve really done so far is use healing artes, his usual medicine, and a concauction that is mixing the stuff in panacea and life bottles. It’s worked most of the time it’s happened.” They then heard a groan coming from the dog seraph. Everyone turned their attention away from Sorey and to the seraph dog.

“So, you’re awake.” Said Rose.

“Yes, thank you for saving me Shepherd and my seraph bretheren. Though it seems that I may have interrupted something and for that I should apologize.” Said the seraph.

“No. We’re just about done.” Said Muse.

“Oh if you’re sure.” Said the seraph Muse got up and left the room. “Though I must say I didn’t expect Lord Zenrus to be here. I thought you would be in Elysia.”

“It’s a long story.” Said Zenrus.

“You used to be part of Elysia?” Rose asked.

“Yes.” Said Zenrus. “But due to some circumstances I ended up entrusting it and my family to Lafarga.”

“So like Edna, he’s very new to the job.” Said Dezel.

“Yes, yes he is.” Said Zenrus. “In anycase, what’s your name?”

“I’m called Oysh.” The dog introduced himself.

“Um … nice to meet ya.” Said Rose. “I’m Rose and these are Dezel, Edna, and Mikleo, and the unconscious one is Sorey.”

“Likewise.” Said Oysh. “Though did Sorey pass out from the shock of forming a pact?”

“No, he passed out due to illness.” Said Rose.

“Oh, that’s a shame.” Said Oysh.

“So how long have you been a hellion? Out of curiosity.” Rose asked.

“Hm … Let’s see … I think a week or so.” Said Oysh.

“Oh, what are you gonna do from here on?” Rose asked.

“I figured I’d stay here for a bit but be a bit careful lest I turn back into a hellion.” Said Oysh.

“Zenrus, would you mind if Oysh more or less took your place with the Light Sparks … or Scattered Bones? Whatever you call them. I mean you’re gonna be traveling with me and due to the sublord pact.” Said Rose.

“I don’t mind myself but it is honestly up to Muse and Oysh.” Said Zenrus with a shrug.

“Are you asking me to well effectively join an assassin’s guild?” Oysh asked.

“Hey, you said yourself that staying here any longer would turn you back into a hellion.” Said Rose.

“Yes I’m aware of that but I’m a bit iffy on wether or not these assassins will be produce a lot of malevolence considering their job and the hatred it attracts.” Said Oysh.

“I’ve been with them since they started up fifteen years ago.” Said Zenrus. “The only time we had a problem with malevolence was with a member that turned hellion but we managed to kick him out.”

“No offense Lord Zenrus but you’re an ancient all powerful seraph with a pretty strong domain I don’t think malevolence would hut you too much.” Said Oysh.

“None taken, but I’m pretty sure that even without that one mishap they didn’t produce very much malevolence so you should be safe.” Said Zenrus. “However you will need to find a vessel and the more faithful among the assassin merchants would have to be willing to worship you.”

“Oh yeah … there are others.” Said Rose then inhaling sharply. “Maybe we should talk to Muse about that.”

“Yes. We should talk about that with Muse and the other resonant members outside of Sorey.” Said Zenrus.

“What about Eguille and the others?” Rose asked.

“They tend to unfortunately think Sorey, Muse, and the others hear non existent voices and are mentally ill, unfortunately, so their response would be something along the lines of telling them that there’s gonna be a new seraph that’ll be with them will be something along the lines of “uh … cool …” before walking off and muttering that they are a loon.” Said Zenrus. Rose flinched.

“Ouch. It’s a miracle that more haven’t become malevolent.” Said Rose.

“Well they have others like them.” Said Zenrus. “This keeps each other in check. Though in any case, come Oysh, let us talk with the leader of the Scattered Bones and hopefully with other resonant members.”

A week passed and Oysh got a vessel being a necklace that was held by one of the resonant members and slowly they were starting to take a liking to the new seraph even though they admit that they will miss Zenrus hanging around. Meanwhile Sorey recovered to the point where his chest didn’t hurt and Muse would allow him to wander out of bed. However she wouldn’t let him go into the ruin unsupervised so she would have one of the twins or sometimes Muse herself keep an eye on him with Mikleo tagging along of his own volition every time. Also sometime during the week she left the hideout for an “errand” at a nearby location for two days but that is something for another time. Anyway, at the very end of the week Rose noticed Sorey going into the ruin once again but with a different member of the guild that had long dark brown hair and looked pretty gloomy with dark circles under her eyes not helping her look any less so and in the standard Scattered Bones uniform. Rose with the seraphim approached them.

“Hey.” She greeted. “You planning to go in again?”

“Yeah, I mean I figured you were thinking of leaving around tomorrow or the day after as according to our network things seemed to have calmed down from the war eventhough Lastonbell is running inspections to find the Shepherd.” Said Sorey. “Otherwise there’s not much tension now so it would be a good time before people stat spreading rumors that the Shepherd died or something.”

 _“Well we were planning on leaving anyway as we’ve been bored out of our skulls this whole time.”_ Said Edna.

 _“I haven’t.”_ Said Mikleo.

 _“You don’t count Meebo.”_ Said Edna.

_“Hey!”_

“Ah! Seraphim?” The girl exclaimed with little surprise or excitement.

“Yeah, they’re around. And I don’t think I got your name.” Said Rose. “I mean I’ve seen you around I just don’t know who you really are.”

“Joanna.” The girl droned. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Shepherd.”

“…Yeah …” Said Rose feeling a little creeped out. “You here to babysit Sorey to make sure he doesn’t die from whatever he has?”

“Hey!” Snapped Sorey.

“Yes.” Said Joanna rather bluntly.

“Haven’t you seen enough of this place?” Rose asked.

“No. I’ve managed to set off some traps which made a path to a different room that I have yet to investigate.” Said Sorey. “However I did find this.” He said pulling out an Iris gem.

“An Iris gem?” Rose exclaimed. “You already looked through it right?”

“Yeah, but I’ve heard of you taking a look at these as well. So you can take a look while we’re gone.” Said Sorey.

“Hold up. Who says I’m staying here? I’m coming with you two.” Said Rose.

“Really?” Said Sorey. “I mean no offense last time you nearly killed me with a smoke trap and you’ve made it very vocal that you don’t really like learning about history.”

“Oh come on! Please? I promise I won’t touch anything!” Rose promised.

“Oh!” Joanna exclaimed with dull joy. “The Shepherd could protect us from those strange monsters!”

“Joanna … I’m her squire. I can do what she can do.” Said Sorey. “We’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Is this revenge on me being rather adamant on not letting you be my squire?” Rose asked. “Cuz if it is it’s really pathetic.”

“Oh like you’re to talk.” Said Sorey.

“Hey, your health is a legitimate concern.” Said Rose.

“Pethdak Kiwat Rose?” Said Sorey crossing his arms.

“You’re still hung up about that?” Rose snap.

“Well yeah! Half of my true is gibberish in the ancient tongue, hell it being ancient tongue is dubious! Couldn’t you at least do something that sounded like you put effort in it like ‘Kiwatis Kiwat’ or ‘Giyalbur Kiwat’?” Sassed Sorey.

“One, I don’t know what either of those mean and two, I panicked! How the hell are I supposed to study up on ancient language and give you something fitting in the middle of a goddamn fight?!” Rose shouted.

“They’re Sorey is Sorey and Sorey the Goddamn Nerd respectively.” Said Sorey bluntly.

“Look now that I know that we can change it!” Offered Rose.

 _“You can’t do that.”_ Said Edna.

“What?” Said Rose.

 _“She’s right.”_ Said Zenrus. _“Once you’ve given someone a true name you can’t change it. The only way it can be changed is if he ends op with a different Shepherd.”_

“Dammit!” Rose shouted.

“Can we drop it and head in?” Joanna asked.

“… Fine …” Rose and Sorey mumbled. And they walked into the ruin to the spot where they fought Oysh days ago. However like Sorey said, this time there is a solid walk way leading to the other side of the room which was a corridor lined with dragon statues. Mikleo came out.

“That’s quite a lot of dragons, I don’t think this place is Ashari affiliated.” He said.

“You don’t know that.” Said Sorey. “No one is sure about their beliefs, except that they don’t really like it when Shepherds and Lords of Calamity clash as it consistently screws them over.”

“Dragons are often a sign of calamity. I don’t think they would worship a being that could screw them over.” Mikleo pointed out. “This this is worship for the eight serpents?”

“I don’t think so, the number of heads doesn’t match up.” Said Sorey. “Back tracking to the Ashari thing they could’ve worshipped dragons after all praying to them could be an attempt to protect them from whatever ends up harming them and what better way than to worship a creature of destruction?”

“I’m with Meebo. This isn’t for the Ashari.” Said Edna coming out. “This is far too confined for them.”

“Oh what’s this? Edna openly agreeing with me without an insult or a hint of sarcasm? Am I dreaming?” Said Mikleo with heavy sarcasm. Edna then whacked him however he instinctively yelped and whacked the umbrella out of her hands causing it to fly across the room almost hitting Joanna as she jumped out of the way. Everyone stopped to look at the the frozen seraphim. Edna had a shocked look on her face while Mikleo looked dazed while having a fearful look in his eyes as if having a flashback.

“… Mikleo …?” Said Rose. He snapped back to reality. He quickly looked around. “Are you …?” But before she could finish her sentence he went back into her body. “Mikleo! Are you okay?”

 _“D-don’t talk to me right now!”_ He said quickly in a panicked tone.

“Mikleo! What’s going on?” Rose asked.

 _“I … I just want to be alone now.”_ Said Mikleo. They continued down the corridor in silence until they got to a room containing a map of Glenwood that went into a little bit of Northfell with symbols associated with the different elements were placed on different areas of the map.

“Yeah, this is deffinately not Ashari.” Said Sorey.

“What makes you say that?” Rose asked.

“For one there would be five markers instead of just four as the Void Ashari are a thing.” Said Sorey. “And on top of that these look like elemental symbols associated with the Shepherd.”

“How do you know that?” Rose asked.

“Well the glyphs indicating a fire sword, water bow, earth gauntlet, and wind blades tend to indicate holygrounds involving the Shepherd even in the oldest records we have on the subject.” Said Sorey with a shrug.

“You didn’t go outside much as a kid did you.” Said Rose.

“I thought we established this a long time ago. But yes, I mostly stayed inside reading as a kid.” Said Sorey.

“So indoor nerd. Why are there Shepherd associated symbols across this map of Glenwood with a little bit of Northfell?”

“I don’t really know.” Said Sorey. “But I guess these could be sacred places that the Shepherd has to go to to help them out or something like that.” He then looked over to Zenrus.

“I’m not saying anything.” He said. “You need to learn these things yourself.”

“So we’re off to traveling the continent to see what those mean.” Said Rose. “Which one is the closest?”

“Well … we’re kind of right in the middle between the one around Lake Haven Heights and Briocleft Ridge. So either of them could work.” Said Sorey.

“Yeah … I’ve been thinking of going into Rolance so … we should head towards the one at Briocleft Ridge?” Said Rose.

“Yeah that might work.” Said Sorey.

“Oh that sounds wonderful.” Said Joanna still using her monotone.

“Nothing to get excited about.” Said Edna. “Days on end dealing with her idiocy.”

“Hey! If you remember my idiocy has worked!” Rose shouted.

“Yes it has. And most of the time it really shouldn’t have.” Said Edna.

“Gah! Would you all quiet for a bit?!” Sorey shouted holding a sketch book.

“Okay what are you doing and where did you get that?” Rose asked.

“My jacket is surprisingly roomy.” Sorey replied.

“Good to know but that doesn’t explain what you’re doing.” Said Rose.

“I’m trying to sketch this down so we can reference it later.” Said Sorey.

“… All right. Let’s hope it’s better than your map of Lady Lake’s aqueducts.” Said Rose.

“Did you seriously get lost there when you executed your insane plan to release a buch of powder addicts that got you into the war?” Sorey questioned.

“How do you know that?” Rose asked.

“Well you all aren’t quiet, especially the seraphim, for one. And I saw a powder addict buying the stuff while wearing your cloak back in Lady Lake.” Said Sorey.

“Oh.” Said Rose. “And no I didn’t get lost the map just looked rather messy with you scribbleing out stuff all over it.”

“… Noted …” Said Sorey going back to his map drawing. After a long while that to Rose felt like an hour as sometime during Sorey drawing she got bored and started counting the dragons and started thinking how to get up there so she could draw faces on them. She then found a stray rock and went looking around for a blank wall, though most of the walls in the ruin were pretty blank so she went up to one and started drawing and writing on it. When Sorey was finished he went to Rose to tell her but instead he saw a dick drawn on the wall with “Rose was here” written above it. “What are you doing?” He asked not amused at what he’s seeing.

“Um … drawing …?” She said.

“You know you could’ve asked for paper instead of vandalizing a ruin with a dick.” Said Sorey.

“That was supposed to be a middle finger.” Said Rose.

“Not helping your case.” Said Sorey.

“Hey you looked busy so I didn’t want to bother you.” Said Rose.

“Can we go now?” Edna wined. “We’ve been standing around without a Meebo to poke.”

“Yeah maybe we should go back.” Said Rose. “We have an Iris gem to check out after all.” When they got back to the hideout they went to the room separating with Joanna and during the whole time Mikleo didn’t come out of Rose. They all sat on the beds. “Sorey, you found an Iris gem right? Did you see what vision in produced?”

“Yes, I told you that.” Said Sorey.

“All right. Don’t tell me what happens. Let’s go.” Said Rose. Sorey gave her the Iris gem and it started showing them a vision.

_Heldalf stood above a cliff as he watched Rolance’s army fight another army that had horns on their helmets with a young girl and the hooded figure that Rose ran into at Lady Lake. Amist the fighting on higher ground and towards the back line a Rolance soldierwith a Flamestone Firecracker shot at one of the horned soldiers killing them. While close to the opposing army’s back line a soldier shot at the Rolance soldier charging at him then reloaded. Then the same soldier from Rolance got a lance thrown at him stabbing him through while the other soldier with the Flamestone Firecracker got decapicated while reloading. So the battle went on without the use of the weapon. However the Lord of Calamity smiled as the lack of the Flamestone Firecracker didn’t matter, soldiers on both sides were starting to turn into hellions as malevolence corrupted them and turned them into lizard monsters or goblin like creatures making their killing methods more brutal and the stronger of the hellions mutated into something even more dangerous then fighting off the other hellions corrupting the area. Then a cut to a different scene where a villiage got burned to the ground and a Hyland soldier just stabbed a woman with the act turning into a hellion but with her last breaths the woman turned into a giant spider like hellions and ripped the soldier that had just attacked her into pieces and then attacked other soldiers ripping them apart corrupting the area with malevolence with her eating the dismembered soldiers as the gore covered cherry on top. Then another cut to the Lithwerg woods where Rolance soldiers corner a band of mercenaries and in their fury the mercenaries turned into very lycanthropic hellions and started tearing into the soldiers causing them to turn into hellions as well so they could over power the mercenaries corrupting the area in the process then dragging them off._

“So that man … Heldalf, he’s the one giving people outside of Northfell the Flamestone Firecracker?” Asked Sorey.

“Looks like it, though judging how he mistook me for someone else it’s likely that he and an accomplice were smuggling them in.” Said Rose. “But what the hell does he gain out of it?”

“I think it helps makes wars more brutal and brutality mixed in with the other emotions that come through during a war produces malevolence faster.” Said Zenrus. “Basically quickly turning a battlefield into a crucible for creating hellions.”

“So it helps create hellions faster and then pit them against each other to increase their strength and ferocity.” Said Edna.

“Disgusting.” Dezel growled.

“Seriously.” Said Edna. “The bastard is so depraved that he probably eats kittens for breakfast.”

“True. But wouldn’t that count as cannibalism?” Rose asked.

“Technically yes.” Said Edna.

“Okay, enough about the Lord of Calamity’s speculated diet do you think we should try to go to Northfell and warn them about someone smuggling their weapons outside of their country?” Sorey asked.

“It’s not that simple.” Said Enda. “The border’s blocked off so just going there will be a too much of a pain in the ass for it to be worth it.”

“Well then. We find Heldalf’s accomplice while going to the sacred places that Sorey marked down and try to get information out of them.” Said Rose. “Okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this has been done for a while but I wanted to wait until Sormik week has passed. Plus I was also working with Nat20animation on tumblr for a Critical Role project.


	33. A Not So Simple Errand

Chapter 33: A Not So Simple Errand

The next day they walked off to Lastonbell, however before they left Eguille stopped them.

“Sorey!” He called. “Since you and your friends are heading to Lastonbell can you give this to Gilmore?” He handed Sorey a package with a note on it. “Oh that’s for any inspections that you might come across, just in case.”

“… Will do.” Said Sorey. After that they got there without incident. Though when they got there they noticed a rather long line in front of Lastonbell’s gate.

“Excuse me!” Rose called to the person in front of the gang. “But what’s going on?”

“Haven’t you heard? They’re performing an inspection of anyone that enters.”

“…What for?” Sorey asked.

“There are rumors that the Shepherd is either dead or somewhere in Rolance. This is to check to see if she really is dead.” They said. “Though that doesn’t exactly mean that we can fuck around so we just have to act normal and not get arrested and we’ll be fine.”

“… We’re boned.” Rose muttered through her teeth.

“Well we’re not lying telling the guards that we’re delivering some goods to a client in town. We’ll be fine as long as they don’t ask too many questions.” Said Sorey. So they waited in line for about half an hour. Then it was Rose and Sorey’s turn to go through the inspection. A young woman with dirty blonde hair tied to the side with a silver wing clip, pale green eyes, and wearing an obviously more feminine version of the standard uniform stating that it was custom made with the armor on her knees, and elbows being a clear black glass like substance instead of the usual metal in an ensamble that set her apart from every other soldier, approached them.

“I am Alisha Diphda from the Platinum Knights.” She introduced herself. “Thank you for complying with the inspection.” Sorey gave a rather sinister grin that seemed to go over Alisha’s head.

“You know she’s a naïve little dip shit don’t you?” Said Mikleo.

“Oh so nice of you to join us Meebo. Care to tell us why you flipped out yesterday and didn’t talk to us for the rest of the day?” Said Edna.

“Listen, I’d love to tell the world all of my trauma but it would end up breaking my oath.” Mikleo replied.

“Hello Alisha it’s been a while hasn’t it?” Said Sorey.

“Yes it has, we should catch up when I’m not busy.” She said. “Though you’re kind of holding up the line. What brings you to Lastonbell Sorey?”

“Oh I have to deliver this to Gilmore.” Said Sorey holding up the paper that came with the package.

“Well knowing Gilmore and that is an authentic seal for the Light Sparks … you’re good to go.” Said Alisha.

“Oh thanks a bunch Alisha! C’mon let’s go!” Said Sorey and he and the rest of the party started walking off.

“Wait!” Alisha called stopping the party. She looked over to Rose. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you before.”

“Well … she’s new.” Said Sorey. “I’m … I’m just showing her the ropes.”

“Then why is she wearing a cloak that’s similar to the traditional Hylandian Shepherd’s garb?” She asked.

“She knew the style of Rose’s cloak?!” Mikleo exclaimed. “Oh god we’re doomed.”

“She’s less of an idiot than she looks.” Said Dezel getting in position to attack her.

“Don’t! There are people watching!” Sorey whispered. Dezel grit his teeth and growled. “Well … you know … reasons.”

“Sorey please. I’m talking to your recruit.” Said Alisha.

“Well … you see …”Rose started. “I’m his boss’s daughter.”

“Oh boy.” Enda sighed.

“Look you may have fooled some Hyland guards and an innkeeper but I doubt you’ll fool someone that knows you’re basically wearing traditional garb.” Said Dezel.

“I don’t recall Miss Muse talking about you, or even seeing you around her.” Said Alisha.

“Well that’s because I’m her long lost daughter!” Said Rose in an overly dramatic way.

“This is so stupid.” Said Edna while Dezel just sighed.

“You see when I was born to a single mother who had lost her husband in the war so I became her world. Mother told me I was the one who lit up her world after it became so dark from her loss. And we lived happily, and it was perfect for both of us for three years.

“Then one day a group of bandits invaded out village, tried to kill my mother, took me away and burned our the village down. I cried for my mother reaching out to her wanting to go back to her and at the very least have her last moments be with me. But little did I know she survived and looked for me and tried to track down the bandits that took me.

“After they took me they threw me into a pit where I was nearly starved to death only to be taken out to clean for them and do horrible …HORRIBLE favors for them. And if I refused or misbehaved I was wipped or worse thrown intio the pit without any food! And I slaved away at the hands of my captors for years until just a few months ago. Where my mother with Sorey and Mupvet busted into their hideout taking down anyone that got in their way and by them I meant mom and Sorey. Mupvet went to the back to try to seduce a woman only to get punched because that was his daughter from a woman he had a one night stand with. So anyway they got information on where I was and she got me out of the pit. Sorey got a coughing fit and passed out and me and mom reunited after I thought she died for so many years. So a few weeks ago she gave me this cloak as a symbol that the light of her world has finally returned to her.” Rose told. All the while Dezel laughed hysterically as Rose’s story became more absurd and Edna moved her limbs around into increasingly ridiculous positions. While Sorey stood in the background with a smile and a stare that was a mix of murderous and despair. Zenrus looked over to Mikleo.

“I feel so sorry for you that she’s basically butchering the story of you and Muse.” He said to him.

“Well … she got the burning village, Muse trying to find me, and kidnapping parts right …” Said Mikleo hesitantly. “She just left out all the death and dumb luck.” Even though the story seemed like there was no way it would work Alisha broke down sobbing around the part around the part Rose mentioned Muse finding her.

“Oh the things your mother did for you!” She cried then sniffing before continuing “So … so … be- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Um … can we go?” Rose asked. Unable to speak through her sobbing she nodded and gestured them to leave and went back to the inspection. A little while later half way towards where Sorey needed to go everyone spoke up.

“Is everyone still not believing that worked?” Rose asked.

“Yes.” Said Sorey.

“I mean due to her apparent familiarity-.” Edna started.

“I don’t mean to interrupt but that familiarity wasn’t apparent.” Said Zenrus.

“Straight up familiarity” Edna corrected “with Sorey and probably Muse we’d expect that she would see through the daughter lie you’ve been getting by with so far.”

“Seriously consisdering her actual son was right there.” Said Sorey. “Though I gotta say the Mupvet part is pretty accurate.”

“She can’t see me otherwise she would’ve known something was up when Dezel started laughing.” Said Mikleo. “Though more than anything I think we just lucked out.”

“No kidding.” Said Rose. “Hey Mikleo if we run into anyone with resonance can we say we’re brother and sister … even though you’ve died and all that?”

“No. And if we did, you’re adopted.” Said Mikleo.

“Oh was the adopted thing supposed to hurt?” Rose asked when they approached a building past the sanctuary and close to the opposite gate with a wooden unicorn sign haning off of it. Rose and the seraphim followed Sorey into the establishment where there was a man that looked pretty damn similar to the knight that they fooled during the inspection except he had short brown hair and blue eyes in front of a bead curtain over an open door which leads to the back where a seraph was putting a piece of jewelery together. Though the glassy beads obscured what they looked like.

“Oh Sorey, it’s been a while. Though honestly I would’ve expected Muse or Eguille to come by.” Said the man.

“They’re busy.” Said Sorey. “Is Gilmore around?”

“I’m afraid in Pendrago. So I don’t know when he’ll be back-.” Said the man. But then they heard a door slam open.

“Do I hear one of my favorite suppliers?” They heard a voice say.

“How…?!” The man said under his breath.

“Oh. If only you can hear me tell you that I’m fairly certain he has a secret labyrinth of tunnels under his room.” Everyone else heard the seraph in the back say in a monotone. A dark skinned man with long wavy black hair tied back, sporting a gotee that has a little braid in it, clad in purple robes with golden lining with an assortment of golden jewelery, went through the bead curtain parting the curtain in a way that made him look fabulous but would poke out anyone else’s eye if they tried it.

“Gilmore!” Sorey cried excitedly.

“Hello Sorey. How is my favorite merchant’s guild?” He asked pinching Sorey’s cheek.

“We’re the only merchant’s guild associated with you.” Said Sorey rather bluntly Gilmore gave a laugh that had a ‘oh if only you knew’ tone. “But we’re good.”

“Wonderful!” Gilmore exclaimed following it up with a boisterous laugh. “I see you have the goods I need.”

“Yep, here you go.” Said Sorey. Gilmore took the package, he opened the package and rummaged through the contents which was primarily herbs with some gelbase plants, and a type of ore mixed in. He smiled then gave Sorey a small sack with gald in it. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“As always.” Said Gilmore. “Though honestly I’m surprised that this was pretty undisturbed with the inspection searching for the Shepherd.”

“Well … we managed to get really lucky …” Said Sorey trying to be careful with his words glancing over to the other man. “Considering some things.” He then eyed Rose and Rose glared at him in return.

“You must tell me more but we should talk more but not in a place that’s so … public.” Said Gilmore gesturing to the whole place. “Let’s say me and you two meet me at the sanctuary after I take care of a few things.”

“All right.” Said Sorey. “C’mon Rose.” The two left the shop and headed to the sanctuary.

“Well … he’s a character.” Said Rose.

“Well he’s pretty good for business.” Said Sorey. “So I know Muse and Eguille are pretty happy to work with him. But some do wish that he’s less shrewd.”

“Why’s that?” Rose asked.

“Well he’s pretty picky on the quality on the goods but on the bright side he ends up really reinforcing our honesty policy.” Said Sorey with a shrug as they entered the sanctuary which was currently empty inside.

“That Gilmore is an odd one.” Said Zenrus. “I’ve heard him told various members of the Light Sparks that he’s not from this continent and he has a seraph working with him.”

“Think he could see us?” Edna asked.

“Yes I could see you.” They heard Gilmore say. The party turned to see Gilmore with the seraph with him. They managed to get a better look at him, a fire seraph with brown skin, red hair, red eyes and in typical serph attire.

“Of course you have resonance.” Said Rose.

“Honestly a bit of a surprise on my end.” Said Gilmore. “As I grew up in a place with no seraphim.”

“I see.” Said Rose. “So who’s your seraph friend there?”

“I am Senokir.” Said the seraph in a monotone. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Shepherd.”

“… Likewise.” Said Rose.

“I could say the same thing talking to seraphim other than my business partner here.” Said Gilmore.

“Really?” Said Rose.

“I was wondering about that.” Said Sorey. “Since you started up a few months ago and I keep seeing Senokir hanging around.”

“He did some favors for me.” Said Senokir in a way that sounded rather ominus. “So I help him with his shop, eventually using it as my vessel instead of the sanctuary when the last Lord of the Land left.”

“What happened to them?” Rose asked.

“Either turned into a hellion or died.” Said Senokir with a shrug.

“… Lovely.” Said Rose.

“Okay is there any reason why you wanted to talk privately other than introduce us to the Lord of the Land?” Edna asked.

“Ah yes.” Said Gilmore. “I wanted to come here to warn you Shepherd.”

“On what…?” Rose asked.

“You should try to avoid the knights and church as much as possible.” Said Gilmore. “Ever since the battle at Gleivland basin tensions between them have been more tense than they usually are. I don’t know what happened between them as I moved here and started my business a few months ago. Something’s happened that caused them to have such a rift between them and I’m sure both sides would want the power of the Shepherd in their powerstruggle. … Isn’t that right Princess?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So ... here's the character that I hate but everyone else loves ... Alisha ... yay ... okay I don't like Dezel either but with him I threw out a lot of the rapey subtext that's associated with him and replaced it with a more insane obsession with animals, a half assed inferiority complex, and snark. But Alisha ... I can't guarantee that she'll be treated fairly as I've seriously thought of killing her off but vouched for a Critical Role character that might not even appear in this fic but a spinoff be a mocking parody of the anime version of her. I am so sorry to any Critical Role fans that read this for what I will do to said character ahead of time because well ... he is kind of perfect for ripping the anime version of Alisha a new one. Along with (most of) Vox Machina being dead here.


	34. Rose vs. Alisha

Chapter 34: Rose vs. Alisha

Rose stiffened and turned around to see Alisha at the sanctuary doors clutching her spear with one hand.

“Shaun, shouldn’t you be at your store or perhaps Pendrago?” Alisha asked. “And please don’t call me princess.”

“My business was finished there and I just came back.” Said Gilmore. “And besides Adam is taking care of the shop quite well.”

“But what about you Sorey? Shouldn’t you be making a delivery to Gilmore’s?” Alisha asked.

“I took care of that before we came here.” Said Sorey.

“You’ve been following us and not doing a good job on knowing what’s going on?” Rose mocked.

“Watch it.” Said Alisha.

“Were you too busy crying?” Rose mocked again.

“Rose what are you doing?” Dezel asked worried.

“Excuse me?!” Alisha snapped.

“Hey! Not judging or anything …” Said Rose with a shrug.

“Rose I really hope you’re not doing what I think you’re doing.” Said Sorey.

“What do you think she’s doing?” Mikleo asked.

“Watch.” Said Senokir with a shit eating grin.

“Now now you two. There’s no need to be up in arms here.” Said Gilmore. “After all this is a church, and I’m pretty sure that starting a fight in here is very looked down upon as this is a place dedicated to Maotelus and not some long forgotten god of war and competition.” Alisha sighed.

“My apologies.” Said Alisha “You’re right Shaun, losing my tempter won’t do us any good. I’m going back to my duties.”

“Yes it would be so uncouth for the pretty pretty princess to throw down with just a mere commoner.” Said Rose.

“Oh that’s it!” Alisha snapped. “You wanna fight? We’ll fight! Right here, right now!” She grabbed the front of Rose’s cloak and gritted her teeth. Sorey got between them.

“Don’t! Both of you!” He shouted. “If you want to fight then take it outside.” Alisha let go of Rose and straightened herself.

“All right.” She said. “Meet me in the park.”

“Fine by me princess.” Rose said in a mocking tone. Alisha grit her teeth and stomped out of the church.

“What have I done?” Sorey said under his breath. “Rose why did you want to start a fight all of a sudden?!”

“Hey! I didn’t do anything in those stupid ruins for a good week and we didn’t run into hellions here!” Said Rose. “Plus all the talking got me bored so I needed to punch something.”

“Then throw a rock at something don’t start a fight!” Exclaimed Sorey. But it was too late for Rose to reconsider as she started walking out the door.

“Way to go newbie. You got Rose to make a stupid decision.” Said Edna.

“Well I didn’t think that they would actually go through with it!” Sorey snapped. “God we have to stop them.”

“You can stop them.” Said Gilmore. “I need to get back to my shop. Hope it all goes well.” He said as he left the church while Senokir stayed behind.

“You’re not going back?” Mikleo asked.

“Well this entertainment doesn’t come by very often. I just wish to see what will happen between the Shepherd and the Princess Knight.” He said.

“Gah! What are we doing here! We need to stop them before they do something really stupid!” Sorey cried running out of church.

At the park Alisha and Rose both drew out their weapons.

“Let’s go!” Alisha snapped.

“Oh hell yeah!” Rose cheered twirling her knives.

“Do you ever shut up?” Alisha growled.

“What is it too distracting or something?” Said Rose. “Though I’m not surprised considering –.” Alisha tried to slash down with her spear. “Whoa! Oh it’s on Princess!” Rose shouted running towards Alisha. She thrusted her spear but Rose jumped to the side and threw one of her knives but Alisha whacked it out of the way. By then they were attracting a crowd who were curious on what was going on. Then a few bystanders left for a bit to grab any friends to check out the fight as Rose ran towards Alisha and she ran towards her attempting another stab but Rose rolled out of the way and then sprinted away from her skidding to grab her knife. However Alisha gave chase and swung her spear down on Rose who blocked the blow with both of her knives.

“Wow. You’re pretty good. I mean not as good as Sergei is with his sword as he’s been at this longer than you.” Said Rose.

“Are you complimenting me or insulting me again?” Alisha asked through her teeth.

“It’s a genuine compliment!” Rose claimed. “What did daddy give you the best tutor in the land and bribe the army to get you in?”

“Okay now that’s just rude!” Alish said then sticking her speak in the ground and using it to spin her self around on it. Rose jumped out of the way before she got kicked in the face then smacked Alisha’s plated foot with the handle of her knife when she tried the same thing again. She fell on her face then quickly got back up again. “Demon fang!” She shouted swinging her spear upwards releasing a blue light. Rose dodged the attack.

“What the …?! The fuck was that?!” Rose exclaimed. Alisha then tried another stab at her but Rose blocked it.

“An arte only taught through extensive training with the spear.” Said Alisha then twirling her spear going for a diagonal slash. Rose dodged out of the way.

“Is it truly extensive or are you just bullshitting me?” Asked Rose. _‘But bullshit or no I really do need to get that spear out of her hands.’_ At the same time Sorey was trying to make his way through the watching crowd cheering and placing bets on who would win the fight. However he struggled to make his way through. Senokir looked over to him and smirked walking his way through the crowd easily.

“Thanks…” said Sorey through his teeth. Meanwhile Rose was throwing one of her knives testing any weak spots on the spear wielding princess seeing if she would do anything other than swat the knife out of the air with her weapon. Then would try various ways to fake her out so she could grab the knife that she threw. She then threw a knife towards her legs however instead of the usual blocking she jumped out of the way.

 _‘That might work.’_ Rose thought. She ran forward and grabbed her knife then charged towards her and went for a slice around the neck Alisha prepared to block her but Rose quickly dived and put away her knives. She grabbed Alisha’s ankles and pulled them out from under her. Alisha fell back and landed on well her back.

“Ow…” She groaned before kicking Rose in the side of the head,

“Ugh!” Rose grunted then grabbing the area where she got kicked she let go for a moment to see blood on her hand. “God what are you trying to do? Kill me?!”

“I would if I was a complete sociopath!” Said Alisha. “So no, I’m not!”

“Well it sure felt like it!” Snapped Rose. Alisha tried scramble for her spear but Rose pinned her down. Though unfortunately for Rose, Alisha just pushed her off and tried to roll to her spear. Rose then got up and grabbed her ankles and dragged her out away from her weapon.

“Oh if you wanna be like that…” Alisha said through her teeth. She kicked Rose in the chest knocking her back. She then got up and tackled Rose to the ground just as she was getting back up.

“Oh come on!” Rose shouted then punching Alisha in the face giving her a bloody nose Alisha stumbled back then punched Rose in the gut. Rose grunted and spat up some blood. “Good god who knew a princess could pack a punch.” Though unfortunately just as the adrenaline was pumping through her system a few guards came in and separated the two.

“Break it up you two.” Said one knight.

“You two are under arrest for unsanctioned gambling, disturbing the peace, and assault.” Said the other one.

“What?! Why am I getting arrested?” Alisha complained.

“You ran off on duty and you assaulted a civilian.” Said the other soldier.

“Ha ha you’re in trouble~!” Rose sang.

“You’re getting arrested too!” Alisha snapped. Meanwhile Sorey looked on with the seraphim.

“… Why am I not surprised?” He sighed to himself.

“Pffff…” Dezel snorted. “Looks like I failed to keep her out of prison. But she will never let that promise down unless she forgot it.” He started giggling to himself. “I expected her to go to jail for like the prison break but starting a fight? That’s virtually how she became the Shepherd! The irony!” He burst out laughing.

“Come on.” Sorey sighed. “We have to bail out our idiot.” He said heading to the local jail where they were holding Rose and Alisha. He walked in to the sight of about four jail cells having people in them, likely for similar reasons as how Rose and Alisha were arrested. They mumbled about how and why they got thrown in was bullshit. While the two women shared a cell Alisha turned away from Rose looking pouty and pissed off while Rose looked smug and pissed off. There was a guard who approached Sorey.

“Well what do you want?” They asked.

“I wish to get my friend there out of jail.” Said Sorey.

“Which one?” They asked.

“The redheaded woman in the cloak.” Said Sorey bluntly.

“Aaaaw you came for me!” Rose cried in an overly dramatic tone.

“All right then can I see your identification?” the soldier asked. Sorey pulled out the paper that got him through the inspection.

“Would this work?” He asked.

“… I’m afraid not.” Said the soldier. “We need something like a birth certificate to be able to bail someone out other wise they’re stuck here for the next twenty four hours.”

 _‘Crap!’_ Sorey thought.

“Welp we tried. Let’s just wait till nightfall to bust them out.” Said Edna. Sorey looked over to Edna then looked back at the guard. He took out some gald and handed it over.

“So how do you feel about this?” He asked. The soldier gave him a blank stare. Sorey pulled out more gald and gave him a nervous smile. The soldier continued to stare blankly at him then confiscated his stuff and threw him in the same cell as Rose and Alisha. “Goddammit not again.” He growled.

“Wow …” Said Rose snickering “was this how you got arrested last time?”

“Shut up Rose.” Sorey hissed.

“Wait. You were arrested?!” Exclaimed Alisha “For bribing a soldier?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Said Sorey. Alisha, for the first time to Rose, started snickering.

“Oh wow … this is better than the time I caught you doing reconnaissance!” She laughed.

“Oh! Oh Tell me more!” Rose begged.

“Well it was actually how we met actually.” Alisha started “Sorey was doing some of his … work spying on me and then I caught him.” Sorey curled up into a ball. “I asked him what he was doing and he panicked so he started crying and told me everything and I mean everything.”

“Smooth.” Said Rose sarcastically.

“Please don’t Rose, I was twelve.” Said Sorey through his teeth.

“However he did save my life so in exchange I decided to not throw him in jail to quite possibly be put to death and keep his secrets.” Said Alisha.

“Aaaw so nice to have a good friend to keep you out of trouble.” Said Rose.

“Rose if this is supposed to make me feel guilty it’s not working.” Said Dezel. “You brought this on yourself.”

“Oh fuck off man.” Said Rose. Alisha looked at her confused for a moment before her eyes lit up.

“Oh! So you can speak to seraphim!” She exclaimed. “My apologies if I was rude to you gentle Shepherd.” Sorey snorted at gentle.

“You know you don’t have to act all nice to me because I’m the Shepherd you know.” Said Rose. “In all honesty I’m a total jackass.”

“It’s true.” Said Sorey.

“Oh nonsense.” Said Alisha.

“No. It’s not.” Said Sorey. “She’s honestly just a jackass who would start fights just because she wants to. You’re free to punch her if you like.”

“Oh thank god.” Alisha sighed then going over to Rose and decked her.

“Crist!” Rose shouted after spitting out some blood and a tooth.

“Yep. This is either the beginning of a beautiful friendship, gay romance, or a bitter rivalry slash arch nemesis deal.” Said Edna.

“I thought anything with Sorey in it would make for the gayest of romances.” Said Rose.

“Hate to break it to you but any romance with me in it has so far ended with death or is heavily one sided.” Said Sorey.

“Oh we’ll work on that.” Said Edna.

“Good.” Said Sorey.

“Hey wait, my mom, or your boss, is here and who’s that?” Said Mikleo. Sorey and Rose looked up to see Muse with a redheaded woman in a different fancier uniform indicating her rank.

“Boss?!” Sorey exclaimed.

“Wait a minute you two I just need to fill out these forms.” Said Muse. Alisha then looked up.

“Ah! Lady Maltran!” Alisha exclaimed.

“In a minute Alisha.” Said the woman doing the same as Muse. A little while later the soldier looked through the paperwork and went to the cell and unlocked it.

“Well there you go.” Said the soldier. “Now don’t go causing any more trouble. That includes you Princess Alisha.”

“Understood.” Said Alisha.

“So how come you hate being referred to by your actual title?” Rose asked.

“It has to do with the fact that she and the rest of the royal family really don’t get along well.” Said the woman.

“Sibling favoritism?” Rose asked.

“… Something like that.” Said Alisha through her teeth.

“That bad huh?” Said Rose. “Well … sorry. I was just trying to poke a little fun at you, I didn’t think that it would wander into touchy territory.” Alisha looked at her shocked.

“…Really?” She said.

“Yes! Is it so hard to believe?” Rose shouted.

“Well … I mean. Considering you were away from your mother for a big chunk of your life who should’ve taught you about basic manners …” Said Alisha gesturing to Muse. “Yes!”

“Oh my god she actually believes it!” Dezel exclaimed.

“Congratulations Meebo you now have a sister.” Said Edna. Muse looked confused for a moment then went back to a nonplussed look. The woman looked over to Muse for a moment really confused.

“Well all that aside Rose really is sorry for making fun of you.” Said Muse. “Right sweetie?”

“I’m not a child mom. But yes I am.” Said Rose.

“Then … I’ll let it slide.” Said Alisha.

“And we’ll talk about the scene you two created later.” Said the woman. She then turned to Rose. “I apologize if we gave you any trouble Shepherd, usually my soldiers are better behaved.”

“It’s no problem, really.” Said Rose. “But … who are you?”

“My apologies. I am Maltran, captain of the Platinum Knights.” The woman introduced herself. “I am her mentor and her boss.”

“I see…” Said Rose.

“However I do wish to talk with you but I rather be it in Pendrago if you would.” Said Maltran.

“Um … okay …” Said Rose. “Oh and I want to ask you about something too.” She looked over to Sorey who pulled the Flamestone Firecracker out of the absurdly roomy jacket. “Do either of you know about this weapon?”

“Um … not really.” Said Alisha, “All I really know about it is that it was only given to the best bow and crossbow men.”

“Most of the same stuff except there was one for each platoon and there were somewhere between five and seven of these and only two survived the battle with their weapons presumably destroyed.” Said Maltran. “The two that survived are in different platoons and you might want to talk to them though you need to make arrangements with Goudman of the Blue Storm regiment and Ia of the Red Bull regiment. Though … you might want to be careful about mentioning the Platinum knights to Ia.”

“Why?” Rose asked.

“It’s a long story …” Said Alisha nervously while looking to the side.

“Anyways Shepherd I’ll be off to Pendrago as soon as I can but I will tell the guards stationed here and in Pendrago to let you through.” Said Maltran.

“Um … okay.” Said Rose.

“Oh and Muse, are you free tonight?” Maltran asked. Alisha gasped happily while Sorey rolled his eyes and Rose looked at the two women confused.

“Wait … are they dating?” Mikleo asked.

“Yes I am.” Said Muse.

“Great!” Maltran exclaimed. “Great.” She repeated regaining her composure. “Tonight then.”

“Tonight.” Said Muse. Maltran nodded and started to walk off.

“Let’s go Alisha.” She order.

“Uh … yes mam!” Said Alisha following her tutor. Muse started walking towards the inn with the rest following.

“It’s complicated.” Said Muse. “We tend to get requests made to off either members of the knights or the church frequently. So I tend to go out with her because I can get information out of her to see what she knows as well as a nice dinner. In exchange, she gets companionship, sex, and protection from us.”

“So you’re effectively using her to get information out of her.” Said Edna.

“It’s not completely like that though yes. In a way I am using her but it’s not entirely one sided.” Said Muse. “It balances out. I get my information and she gets my protection.”

“You know you’re sounding a lot like you don’t care about her.” Said Mikleo.

“Don’t get me wrong, she is a good woman but I don’t see what she sees.” Said Muse. “I’d rather look out for you, Sorey, Zenrus, and the rest of the Scattered Bones. Now get some rest, you have a long trip ahead of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No the Red Bull regiment was not a typo. And yes there were three soldiers that Rose spared ... if you remembered after several months, one of the three just died in the battle.


	35. The Prepetually Rainy City

Chapter 35: The Perpetually Raining City

The next day the party set out from Lastonbell and headed to Pendrago they walked there for the next week and a half. It was very uneventful for Rose but for Sorey on the other hand he investigated one of the slanted towers of the Meadow of Triumph speculating with Mikleo on their function and methods of construction. However, unfortunately, for Sorey the trip to Pendrago became rather restless for him. He slept less as they went on but his own fighting became sloppier as the days went on. Dezel also noticed this and asked if he was all right to which Sorey would respond with: “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” They both knew that Sorey was lying but they didn’t dwell on it. And every night he would try to sleep but have a reoccurring dream that seemed to have gotten worse the closer they got to Pendrago. When they were closer to Lastonbell, and even long before, he dreamed of an accident from five years ago but as they got further from there it escalated to the aftermath of the accident, to mutilated bodies, to a fucked up psychotropic drug trip. As they went on the events of the dream got worse and more surreal than the previous night. Eventually leading him to shoot up from the ground he was sleeping on gasping for air. He would sit up for a while then lie back down unable to go back to sleep.

“Hey.” He heard someone say one night. He turned to see Mikleo next to him, he jumped back startled. “Are you okay?”

“Um … yeah. I’m fine.” He said. Mikleo gave him an annoyed look and a tap on the head.

“Come on. We all know you’re lying just so you don’t worry us when it’s getting more obvious that you’re not getting much sleep.” Said Mikleo. “Come on, what’s going on?”

“Well it’s a bad dream that reminds me that I don’t like Pendrago.” Said Sorey.

“Is it because the people are terrible there?” Mikleo asked.

“No, the city itself is fine.” Said Sorey, “The people are fine and the Shrine Church I’m sure is an amazing place but it always reminds me of something I’ve done.” The two were quiet for a bit.

“You want to talk about it?” Mikleo asked.

“… No.” Said Sorey.

“All right.” Said Mikleo.

“Why are you up?” Sorey asked.

“… Reasons.” Said Mikleo.

“Don’t you need to sleep as well?” Sorey asked.

“I technically don’t need sleep.” He said giving Sorey a sad smile. “As long as I just rest for some time I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” Said Sorey.

“Come on, go back to sleep, you’ll function better that way.” Said Mikleo.

“All right.” Said Sorey. And for a moment he seemed better.

Then there was also the fact that once they got to Pearlots Pasture it started raining in a nonstop deluge which soaked Rose and Sorey rather quickly.

“God I’m so cold and drenched!” Rose complained.

 _“Well it’s warm and cozy inside you.”_ Said Edna.

“That is weird but dammit! I’m jealous!” Rose shouted.

“Hey! There’s a dwelling over there!” Sorey shouted. Rose squinted through the rain getting in her eyes to see something that might have been a small fortress not that out of the way from Pendrago which was still a ways away. They ran to the dwelling with plants growing on and out of it hilariously making it the most forested place around the Pendrago area. They looked up to see some candle light through the window.

 _“Huh. Looks like this place is still functioning.”_ Said Edna.

“You know of this place?” Rose asked.

 _“Well it’s Greyskull Keep.”_ Said Edna.

“Yeah, it’s a historical site that has been … mostly maintained for two hundred years and Vox Machina’s old home. It was a major site for local tourism but recently not many people have been going to it.” Said Sorey. “Well for reasons outside of the rain.”

“How come?” Rose asked.

“Well there are rumors that the place is haunted.”Said Sorey.

“Haunted?!” Rose exclaimed. Sorey then knocked on the door. “Dude what the hell are you doing?! You don’t knock on a place that’s haunted!”

“What’s gotten into you?” Sorey asked.

 _“You said it’s rumored to be haunted so…”_ Said Dezel.

“Shut it.” Said Rose.

“Oh come on Rose, you have disembodied seraphim talk to you all the time. Besides, it’s just the care takers pulling pranks on any late night intruders.” Said Sorey. He knocked again. “Hello? Helloooo~! We need a place to stay for the night!” The door creaked open. “Huh. It’s unlocked.” Sorey started walking in.

“Wait! Sorey! What are you doing, don’t you know that this is a deathtrap?!” Rose cried.

“Rose, it’s fine, the care takers just have a flare for the dramatic.” Said Sorey. “Besides no one has died here.”

“No way man! I’m not going in.” Said Rose. “I’m gonna stay out here.” That’s when the seraphim came out and shoved her in. “Hey! What are you doing?!”

“We are not letting you die out here in the rain and cold.” Said Mikleo. “Just get in the keep!” And they shoved her into a rather cozy front room lit with a lot of little candles with shells and pieces of glass hanging on string from the ceiling though some of the strings fell onto the floor and off to the side of one room there were two paintings. One of them was a rather enormous but beautifully realistic painting of a pair on a horse, a man and a woman the man had brown hair blowing in the wind with a well toned body with his chest partly exposed. The woman on the other hand had her arms draped around him with her hair tied up and an absurdly long scarf flowing in the wind and manages to look pretty sexual even though she was in a full suit of armor. The second one right next to it was a much smaller painting with looser brushstrokes but of several people gathered together for what looks like a wedding and there was a bear there for some reason but nonetheless the main couple look very happy surrounded by their presumed friends and family. However below the painting there was a vase of flowers on top of a very old and dusty stack of books, a couple of precious looking stones bunched on the floor next to it, a flute that leaned against the wall and a pair of glasses as well as a pair of blue feathers hung off the painting’s frame. The flowers and feathers were very recent additions due to the lack of degradation.

“It looks like a shrine.” Said Sorey. Just then there was a gust of wind slamming the door shut.

“OH GOD WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” Rose shouted.

“Woooooooo…” They heard someone say.

“Eek! Who said that?” Rose shouted.

“Woooooooooooooooooo…” A different voice said.

“Gah!” Rose shrieked jumping onto Sorey.

“Ow! Rose! Hey!” Sorey shouted. Edna sighed and rolled her eyes. She looked up at the ceiling. Then a white figure jumped out from the hall. Rose shrieked shaking Sorey causing the two to fall to the ground.

“OOGA BOOGA AH!” The figure shouted then tripping on itself falling flat on its face. Though Rose was still panicking and screaming to notice anything. Some of the others were hearing some snickering from the ceiling.

“Rose.” Said Sorey trying to get her attention. Dezel walked up to the white figure and pulled off the sheet covering it. “ROSE!” Sorey shouted. “It’s just a seraph!”

“Wait really?” Rose asked. Sorey pointed to the female seraph with red hair and green tips wearing a green flowy garment and an antler headdress rubbing her head.

“Er … hi!” The wind seraph greeted.

“Vax, how long have you been convincing your partner to join you in your pranks now?” Edna asked loudly at the ceiling. The rest of the party heard something land and turned to a male seraph but much pastier than the other seraph with black hair and white tips and wearing a black leathery outfit with so many feathers on it that even Sorey would consider it to be extra.

“Oh it hasn’t been long Edna, just fifty years.” He said.

“You didn’t think of trying to get me or Grog?” Said Edna sounding somewhat offended.

“Grog is the usual victim and you’re actually really hard to find.” Said Vax.

“Wait wait wait wait …” Said Mikleo “Edna you know them? And you two have been taking care of Greyskull Keep?”

“Well yeah, Greyskull was our home.” Said Vax.

“Well technically our home is the road due to my people not sticking to one place since doing that screwed us over a thousand years ago …” The female seraph rambled. “Plus we technically haven’t been taking that good care of it as part of it collapsed though it did make a good expansion to my garden ...”

“So who are you?” Dezel asked.

“Hm … just like the stories say … red hair … antlers … kind of dorky wind seraph…” Sorey muttered to himself, “You’re … Keyleth aren’t you?” Sorey asked.

“Yeah!” Said Keyleth, “I’m Keyleth of the Wind Ashari.”

“Wait … The Ashari are seraphim?” Sorey asked, Keyleth enthusiastically nodded. “If that’s the case why are your people so mistrusting of the Shepherd?”

“Well … I wasn’t around when it happened but according to my people the Shepherd from around a thousand years ago … well … Long story short it ended up with a drastic reduction in Ashari numbers and our tribes ended up being forever isolated from each other.” Said Keyleth.

“Oh …” Said Sorey “Um … so … do you hate Shepherds like Rose or Gabriel? And why did you work with Pike?” Dezel turned to Sorey when he mention the name ‘Gabriel’.

“Pike became a really good friend … She was kind of the glue that held us together even though we were split between two Shepherds.” Said Keyleth “I never knew Gabriel but Rose seems pretty cool … I think … I can’t believe I managed to scare her though …”

“Hey!” Rose snapped.

“Oh don’t get insulted by it. That was hilarious.” Said Vax patting Rose’s shoulders. “C’mon, Let’s eat.”

“Wait really?” Said Rose.

“You don’t mind that we just walked in to get out of the rain?” Mikleo asked.

“Well what do you want us to do? Leave you out and let you freeze to death?” Vax asked. “Come on, let’s get those clothes to dry and talk over some tea and a meal.”

“But where…” Sorey began.

“Oh just take any of the two rooms and I think there might be some old clothing in the closest that hasn’t rotted through.” Said Vax.

“Are you sure?” Rose asked.

“Yeah it’s perfectly fine.” Said Vax.

“… Okay …” Said Rose as they left the front hall and went up the stairs and went into two of the ten rooms that were up there, or rather nine rooms and part of Keyleth’s garden as rain water was seeping out from the bottom of the door there. Rose and Sorey picked rooms that were as far away from Keyleth’s garden as possible. They changed out of their wet clothes and went down stairs to where the seraphim were cooking and talking. When the humans arrived they looked at the two in sheer disbelief for a while then Vax burst out laughing, Edna started snickering, Keyleth was trying to hold in any laughter but couldn’t help but smile Mikleo looked on in disbelief while Dezel looked confused.

“What? They look fine to me.” He said.

“Your wind vision can’t detect clothing can it?” Mikleo said.

“It’s not wind vision it’s wind reading.” Dezel clarified. “And no I can’t I can only get basic forms nothing on top of them.”

“I guess that might be a good thing.” Said Mikleo.

“Oh come on … it’s not that bad” Said Keyleth. “Well at the very least Sorey rocks it.”

“Really?” Said Sorey wearing a tight dress looking thing made up of some scraps of fabric but was mostly leaves that were replaced within the last week. “I thought I looked like I haven’t left a tree in years. Plus this is really itchy.”

“Hey at least you found something that fits you somewhat decently. You have no goddamn idea how hard it was to put these pants on.” Said Rose in a rather frivolous outfit that was so obviously so small that it was miracle that she could walk in it without it falling apart with every step.

“Well … at least it’s just for tonight …” Said Sorey with a shrug.

So they get together for dinner with some tea, well technically an herbal blend, with stuff from Keyleth’s garden, which according to her she’s not quite sure if some of the things are actually poisonous to humans. So the two humans opted for some booze along with Keyleth.

“So … yer the shepherd eh?” Keyleth asked thoroughly drunk.

“Hell yeah!” Said Rose about just as drunk.

“And yoooooooou’re the squire!” Keyleth cheered.

“Yeah…” Said Sorey just kind of buzzed and gingerly sipping at some pretty aged wine.

“So who’s da prime Lord? Is it you?” Keyleth asked pointing to Zenrus.

“I’m afraid not Lady Keyleth” Said Zenrus, “It’s her.” He pointed to Edna. Keyleth started laughing.

“Oh that’s a good one Mister? Lord? Zenrus uh … I don’ know what should I call you?” Said Keyleth Edna glared at her wanting to whack her over the head with her umbrella. She almost went through with it too if Dezel hadn’t grabbed her arm signaling her that she shouldn’t hit someone in their home when she’s a guest.

“How about you think about that when you’ve sobered up, Okay?” Said Zenrus.

“Heh heh … yeah … yeah maybe.” Said Keyleth.

“So … you managed to be Prime Lord huh?” Said Vax. “I didn’t think you would care enough about the Shepherds and well … other people to do it. Since I remember you being an ass to my sister and Percival.”

“It wasn’t really by choice.” Said Edna, “I’m just doing this for Lailah since for whatever reason she’s running around with Sigfried.”

“You mean the only gun that was made long before Percival?” Vax asked.

“The very one.” Said Edna.

“I thought Zavied would still have it.” Said Vax.

“Well he doesn’t, though speaking of which did you or Keyleth see him or my brother within the last twenty years?” Edna asked.

“I don’t think so,” Said Vax “I thought Eizen would be on Rayfalke and Zavied died from frostbite due to being an exhibitionist.”

“Well to be fair we don’t know what happened to them as they seemed to have dropped off the map some time after the age of chaos started.” Said Zenrus. “But sometime during the last twenty years Zavied gave Sigfried to Lailah …”

“And she’s been using it to try to kill the dragon that’s on Rayfalke.” Said Mikleo.

“There’s a dragon on Rayfalke now?” Vax asked.

“Yeah.” Said Edna, “While you were … here and I was in Lady Lake taking over for Lailah, Meebo over there and someone else took up residence in Rayfalke and that someone else ended up turning into a dragon somehow about five years ago.”

“Well while you and your currently shitfaced Shepherd go and try to find whatever Lord of Calamity is fucking everything over, put the thing down.” Said Vax. Mikleo then stood up suddenly silencing the ambiance of Rose and Keyleth laughing their asses off at Sorey’s drunken historical musings. “You all right?”

“How could you…” Mikleo muttered.

“What was that?” Vax asked.

“How could you say that?” Mikleo asked back raising his voice.

“Because it’s the truth.” Said Vax. “Dragons can’t be turned back into seraphim. So you’re better off just offing the thing before it causes any trouble.”

“I doubt it. Since Mikleo has that oath that keeps Bahamut confined to Rayfalke.” Said Dezel.

“Even so, killing Bahamut is still the greatest mercy you can give it, for both it and Meebo.” Said Vax.

“I am losing someone that I cared about. How the hell is that a mercy?” Mikleo exclaimed.

“Because oath that powerful can and will put a strain on you. If it isn’t already doing so.” Said Vax.

“What?” Said Mikleo.

“Oh ya know … seraphim get more powerful wit’ age or sometin’.” Said Keyleth. “So dragon impri… im prfff, … keeping is some ya need to be around for at least a hundred years shit.”

“Miss Keyleth, I think you’ve had enough.” Said Zenrus.

“So what? I should just break the oath and let Bahamut go free until someone kills him?” Asked Mikleo.

“Oh god no! Do you know how dangerous it is to break oaths?” Exclaimed Vax. “I’m saying trying to maintain the power to imprison a fucking dragon without decades of training would likely get you killed the longer you maintain it! You’re better off killing it!”

“But we can still save him. There has to be another way other than just killing him!” Mikleo snapped back, Vax stood.

“There is no other way!” Vax shouted slamming his hands onto the table. “Trying to find another way is downright suicidal and will just end in death!”

“But that has to be a last resort! There just has to be another way!” Insisted Mikleo.

“How many dragons do you think I’ve fought when I was human? How many?” Vax asked. “Do you think I didn’t try to find a different way to save them?” Silence. “Believe me Meebo I tried to turn them back into seraphim, I begged Keykey and my lord to spare them because I thought there had to be another way! I tried to speak to Maotelus about it then making everyone try hairbrained theories. But in the end none of them worked and they got us injured while one of our dear friends died!” He sat back down. “… I know you want to believe that you could bring dragons back to the way they were but the sad truth is they’re no longer the seraphim you once knew. They’re just a shadow that might as well be wearing the skin of a seraph. But that shadow is not the same thing as a seraph, it doesn’t feel, it doesn’t laugh, or think, or do anything that makes a seraph a seraph. Dragons are just mindless, unfeeling beasts that make everything around it just miserable. The sooner you realize this the better. Otherwise you’ll end up either dead or losing a loved one that you’ve gained through your journey.” Mikleo glared at him for a while then stormed off. The rest of the night ended up being quiet and awkward until they went to bed. The next morning the seraph pair prepared a rather crappy breakfast with another ambiguous herbal blend that Rose and Sorey didn’t want to drink. However the tension between Vax and Mikleo stuck around as Mikleo wouldn’t talk to or look at Vax the whole time until Rose and her party left for Pendrago.

* * *

 

When they got to Pendrago they noticed that the city seemed almost deserted with the occasional person running to get out of the rain. They walked through town when they saw some of Maltran’s soldiers facing off against a lizard hellion. Rose and Sorey ran forwad drawing their weapons the hellion looked at them, hissed, then jumped away.

“Hey! HEY! Get back here you son of a bitch! You owe us a new window!” Shouted the woman from Gleivland Basin that Rose made a deal with during the war.

“Shane I am terribly sorry about-.” Alisha started.

“Oh save it.” She said she then turned to a dark skinned woman in a simple outfit. “Are you all right babe?”

“I’m fine.” Said the woman. “But it’s been getting harder to keep a living since I’m constantly paying for the damages to the inn by church bastards.”

“Now now I don’t think that it’s quite that bad.” Said Maltran.

“Ugh … You sound just like Captain Goudman.” Shane groaned. “It’s been a whole damn year and the damage to our property has been getting worse and no one is doing anything about it! That man could’ve attacked my wife today and we would’ve been alone dealing with the aftermath!” The sniper’s wife noticed Rose and Sorey in the background.

“Oh hello!” She greeted. “I am terribly sorry that you had to see this.” The other soldiers looked.

“Shepherd!” Said Maltran.

“Rose!” Alisha cried at the same time as her teacher.

“You!” The soldier shouted at the same time as the other two.

“I assume you saw all that.” Said Maltran.

“Well yeah.” Said Rose, she then turned to the soldier she got the gun from. “And it’s nice to see you again. Uh … Shane is it?”

“Yes. Yes it is.” Said Shane.

“And I didn’t know you were married.” Said Rose.

“That’s because we made a deal that I would give you my gun if you took out the sniper without killing him and left you there.” Said Shane. She then looked over to Maltran. “Don’t tell Goudman.”

“I won’t.” Said Maltran, “But I can’t guarantee with some of my soldiers.” She then side eyed the soldiers that accompanied the two, and Alisha.

“But yes she is married.” Said the woman. “I’m Emily, the owner of this inn, and her wife. Now shall we get out of this rain?”

“Oh finally.” Said Edna.

“Yes! Please!” Said Rose.

“Well if you two plan to stay for the night I can’t give you the room that has a broken window as well … it has a broken window.” Said Emily. “God I need to refund that one staying there and perhaps get him a new room.”

“Head back to the tower, Alisha you stay with me.” Maltran ordered the other soldiers.

“Yes mam.” They all said with the other two soldiers running off and they all went inside. Inside was far warmer but the guests inside were murmuring amongst themselves a bit worried.

“Well go on. Don’t just stand there!” Said Emily to the band playing off to the side where the violinist looked very familiar.

“All right.” Said Andy. “A one, two, three …” The drum started beating and the other instruments followed. Rose looked over and gave a small wave while Andy gave her a wink.

“How much is a room?” Rose asked.

“1000 gald a night and that includes meals and access to the bar.” Said Shane. Rose counted out the gald and gave it to Emily. Emily put it in a pouch on her apron, she went behind the front desk and gave her a key.

“Don’t worry, it’s not the room that has the broken window.” Said Emily.

“We’ll talk there.” Said Maltran.

“Shane, do you mind if we also talk with you?” Sorey asked. Shane looked over to her wife.

“Hey. I always take care of the inn while you’re with the knights, we don’t have many guests tonight, it’s fine.” Said Emily. “And besides, we have a decent band playing tonight.”

“I know I know.” Said Shane with a small chuckle. She then gave her wife a kiss and headed into the room with the rest of the group.

“So what’s been going on here?” Rose asked.

“Well it’s been raining for several months now.” Said Maltran.

“When did this start happening?” Rose asked.

“It started about a year ago when the pope disappeared and the cardinal took over.” Said Maltran. “And recently she’s been cooped up in the church where nobody has been able to see her.”

“Honestly it’s looking pretty bleak, as our crops have been failing that we came up severely short during last year’s harvest and we’re currently relying on imports from Hyland.” Said Alisha. “And with the war I’m afraid that we might end up dealing with a boycott or higher tariffs on Hylandian goods.”

“You know, when I last went to Flamestone they had a booming fishing industry and created a facility to grow plants that thrive in warmer temperatures during winter.” Said Edna. “Just saying, it could help them to try to open trade with their northern neighbor.”

“Have you guys tried to open relations with Flamestone?” Rose asked. “They’re not at war with you and you could get cheaper goods.”

“Rose, if a freelance, no boarders, trading guild couldn’t get anything from Flamestone do you think an empire would have any more luck?” Zenrus asked.

“About that …” Said Alisha. “Both the church and the royal family have heard stories of Flamestone. So everyone is honestly pretty terrified of them, we fear that with their superior technology they could easily crush us.”

“Doesn’t that sound a bit overly paranoid?” Rose asked. “I mean we haven’t heard anything about them wanting to wage war.”

“Regardless.” Said Maltran turning the subject back on track. “We’ve been on edge with the church when the Pope left, as he was the one that tended to act as a mediator between the knights and the church.”

“So things went to shit when he disappeared right?” Said Rose.

“Well … yeah … things essentially went to shit.” Said Alisha. Rose snorted then Sorey swatted her arm. “What?”

“Oh nothing.” Said Rose.

“Anyway. Is there anything that you might need our help with?” Sorey asked.

“Well we do need to investigate the Cardinal to see if she really is behind the Pope’s disappearance.” Said Maltran. “And we’ve tried, however all of our ‘investigators’ have disappeared as soon as we sent them into the Shrine Church.”

“Not to mention that we all get yelled at for having the ‘audacity to walk in the church like we own the place’ when we investigate.” Said Shane cutting in. “And I don’t know about them but I get a few ‘dykes,’ ‘faggots,’ and ‘Go burn in hell with your slut of a wife’ thrown in.” Rose looked at her for a brief moment slightly horrified then went back to Maltran. Shane then turned to Alisha and Maltran. “What? Did you guys think you’re the only ones that are suspicious about the circumstances of the Pope’s disappearance and suspect the Cardinal may have something to do with it?”

“So do you want us to mediate between you and the Cardinal?” Rose asked.

“Well not so much mediate as bust in there and get information out of the Cardinal herself.” Said Alisha with a shrug.

“Okay.” Said Rose.

“Wait don’t we need permission to be able to enter and speak with the Cardinal?” Sorey asked. “I mean, despite being told not to you got involved in the conflict between the knights and the church and stuff like this has mainly set you firmly on the side of the knights.”

“Oh right!” Said Mikleo “Judging from the treatment Shane gets along with presumably other knights for just being on the grounds you need to ask if you could come in.”

“Also you guys tend to get snapped at when you’re on the church grounds.” Sorey repeated. “So shouldn’t we get some sort of permission to get the Shepherd to talk to the Cardinal with the agreement that no knights would be involved?”

“Well … theoretically maybe …” Said Alisha with another shrug, “But that would require either talking to the Cardinal herself but I think that wouldn’t end very well as well …”

“Every knight we try to send in to investigate the Cardinal is missing and honestly we think they’re dead.” Said Maltran.

“Yeah …” Said Alisha. “The other way is trying to have Emperor Lyte or Empress Dowager Nadia give you that permission. However … my standing with them is not so good.”

“That’s an understatement.” Sorey muttered under his breath then giving a fake cough.

“Fine, the three of us down right hate each other.” Said Alisha.

“How come?” Rose asked.

“Well this is due to several unfortunate deaths and affairs.” Said Zenrus.

“How so?” Dezel asked.

“Well Lyte is now emperor being the only son of the late Emperor, Doran, to survive a power struggle that killed his other sons, Konan and Leon.” Zenrus started. “The rest of his children are daughters.”

“Unlike Flamestone, the Kingdoms of Glennwood only would have sons inherit thrones, daughters can’t unless they marry an ally.” Said Edna.

“Right. However unlike Konan and Leon, Lyte was the child of a concubine, so that’s why the Empress Dowager doesn’t like the current Emperor, and the hatred is mutual between them. As for Alisha, she was the result of a fling between the late Emperor and a common prostitute.” Said Zenrus.

“Oh … oh no.” Said Mikleo coming to the realization of Alisha’s familial situation.

“Yes Mikleo, oh no is right.” Said Zenrus. While Maltran, Alisha, and Shane explained the same exact thing, not that Rose listened.

“So getting permission from the Emperor or Empress Dowager is out of the question.” Said Rose.

“Basically.” Said Alisha.

“However I can try to talk to other knight captains and some other princesses, duchesses, or any other position Doran’s daughters hold that are on better terms with Alisha. Or at the very least get one of their kids to convince mom to help out Auntie Alisha.” Said Maltran, Alisha blushed at the ‘Auntie Alisha’ remark. Rose looked at Maltran somewhat hopeful “What? You didn’t honestly think that Alisha was the only one did you?”

“I hoped she wasn’t.” Said Rose.

“Um … Good?” Said Alisha.

“Anyway I’ll try to make arrangements and I’ll let you know as soon as I can.” Said Maltran then standing up. “Come Alisha.” Alisha jolted up and followed her teacher. Shane also stood up and started to leave.

“Shane.” Said Rose stopping her, “Do you know how the Flamestone Firecracker or whatever you ended up calling it works?”

“Well … sort of.” Said Shane. “Meet me at the shooting range tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I kinda made notes for myself about Alisha's large in AU family with siblings, nieces, and nephews far more likely to take the throne than she would even though that was already heavily implied in the game *cough*anime*cough*. And as for her mother being a prostitute trust me that was a thought long before I started writing this fanfiction. And due to the fact that she's a prostitute in the AU ... in a time period without effective birth control ... or safe methods of abortion... Alisha has other siblings from her mom's side of the family. And you've probably already met one of them like two chapters back. So basically she has a fucking huge family in the AU and Alisha is considered the cool vodka aunt on her dad's side of the family.
> 
> Oh and as a side note Vax is a void seraph and Edna met him (And by extension Keyleth) in a pretty fucked up way that involved a kidney and her brother covered in gore.


	36. Quickly ... Quickly!

Chapter 36: Quickly … Quickly!

The next morning while Maltran was supposedly trying to convince one of Alisha’s half-sisters to grant Rose permission to the Shrine Church, (when in all honesty she’ll be talking to Alisha’s nieces and nephews) Rose and party went out looking for the shooting range in which they got lost until a soldier told them it was a bit aways from the Knight’s Tower in Pendrago’s northern district. They found a heavily guarded tower in front of the palace which the knights there pointed them in the general direction of the shooting range. Which was nearly directly behind the palace. There Shane waited standing in the middle of an abandoned lot that had straw targets on one end falling over and starting to rot due to the lack of recent maintenance and the rain. She was in the same uniform she wore during the battle which is a version of the standard uniform for soldiers that really need to rely on their own mobility.

“Morning.” Said Rose.

“Good morning Shepherd.” Said Shane. “You wanted to know how guns work right?”

“Yeah.” Said Rose.

“But also any additional information like where did you get them.” Said Sorey pulling it out of his jacket. “Since well all our sources say that they’re exclusive to Flamestone.”

“To be honest I don’t know where these came from.” Said Shane. “All I know is that a woman in a black cloak one day talked to some of the higher ups and gave them the guns then left and I was given this because I was a good shot. Anyway let’s save that for later. Fork it over!” Sorey gave her the gun. “Oh how I’ve missed you.” She said to the gun. She then turned to Rose and Sorey. “So for it to be of any use, you need two things bullets and gunpowder. Since I just gave you the gun it is useless unless you want to club someone over the head with it. In that case it’s a waste of a perfectly good long range weapon, plus we don’t know how to fix it in the event that you do break it on someone’s skull.”

 _“Yeah especially since she tied a blade at the end of her’s.”_ Commented Edna.

“If that’s the case why did you tie a blade at the end of your gun?” Rose asked.

“For when my enemy runs up to me and tries to kill me.” She said. “Since it has more of a reach than your average sword it would give me a chance to defend myself without needing to resort to breaking the gun.”

“So why the urgency?” Sorey asked. Shane gave him a look that said ‘are you serious?’ She then gave a sigh.

“It takes a while to reload a gun. And it takes a while to aim. Which was why the riflemen were basically on the outskirts of the battlefield to stall for reloading time while Hylandian Soldiers that caught on would get killed by some other facet of the army. If you’re good at reloading you could get it under a minute … maybe, but since we weren’t exactly masters at it took us about two minutes per round. And these things are actually pretty delicate as you proved on the battle field Shepherd and the fact that the original sights on this rifle broke off.” Shane explained. “Now to load this you need to pull the hammer back, open this up,” She flipped two switch looking things on the top of the rifle then took out a white packet and tore it open with her teeth and spat out the paper. “Now you pour a bit in here and close it. Then you dump the rest in the barrel.” She slowly demonstrated as she talked. “Now you take your bullet,” She took out a steel ball that looked slightly smaller than the barrel of the gun, “Then put it in the muzzle, take your ramming rod and shove it down the barrel and twist it as you go.” She then shoved the bullet down the barrel taking a good while to pack in the bullet and gun powder. “Then you take aim and … fire.” She pulled the trigger and the hammer sprung forward hitting another small thing on the top creating a small spark then nearly immediately after there was a cacophonous bang as there was a flash from the front of the barrel and whatever came out hit the slumped over target scattering it nearly a second later.

“Wow …” Said Sorey.

 _“That power can cause great destruction if left uncheck and in the wrong hands.”_ Said Edna. _“Those are the reasons why the creator kept them in Flamestone, so he could regulate them and make sure that it doesn’t cause destruction, that he can keep them in check and take a look at the people that are interested in using the gun so that it doesn’t go to anyone with ill intent or will take them out of Flamestone.”_

 _“Edna … did you know the inventor?”_ Mikleo asked.

 _“That doesn’t matter.”_ Said Zenrus. _“What matters now is to stop the Lord of Calamity and any accomplices he has from spreading more of these before they help create more malevolence.”_

“Hey Shane, are there any risks to using a gun, like what if it just so happen to malfunction?” Sorey asked, Rose looked over to him a bit surprised.

 _“Good thinking Sorey.”_ Said Zenrus.

“Hm … I would imagine that it might explode on you injuring you and possibly kill you.” Said Shane. “I wouldn’t know since we didn’t suffer from any problems with them.”

“The woman who gave them to you, did you see anything about her?” Sorey asked.

“Did you even see her in the first place?” Rose asked.

“Hm … I think I caught a glimpse of her around the time we got the guns leaving Pendrago while I was heading back home. I couldn’t see any particular features on her as the hood she had on completely obscured her face. That’s all I got.” Said Shane.

“Thank you Shane.” Said Rose. “This was a very educational if not terrifying experience.”

“Hey, no problem.” Said Shane.

“Shane! Rose!” They heard Alisha call. They turned to see her out of her armor and in a white and red dress with her hair down holding an umbrella with one hand while the other hand was being used to support the child hanging on her back with an older child trailing behind her.

“Alisha? I thought you would be with Maltran.” Said Rose as Alisha let the little girl on her back down.

“Well I was but we told my sister that you were in town and my nieces over heard and wanted to meet you immediately.” Said Alisha. Rose crouched down to the girls’ eye levels.

“And who might you two be?” Rose asked. The younger of the two squeaked and hid behind Alisha while the older gasped happily.

“My name’s Valerie!” She said.

“And who’s the shy one?” Rose asked looking over Valerie to the younger girl who scooted farther behind Alisha. “Oh hey c’mon, I don’t bite.”

“This is Rosa.” Said Alisha. “She doesn’t talk much.”

“Rosa?” Said Rose. “Hey! That’s almost like my name!” Rosa peeked out from behind her aunt. “I’m Rose.”

“Um … Miss Rose …” Said Valerie. “Can you really talk to spirits and slay dragons?”

“Yes and that’s a work in progress.” Rose answered.

“How come dragon slaying is a work in progress?” Valerie asked. “Vox Machina could do it!”

“Really?” Rose whispered to Sorey.

“I don’t know ask Vax and Keyleth when we leave the city.” Sorey whispered back.

 _“Why are you two questioning this? Of course they did! You heard the conversation from that night didn’t you?”_ Said Mikleo rather bitterly _“I believe he said ‘Trying to find another way to save a dragon is downright suicidal.’”_

 _“Well it could’ve been that they tried to purify a dragon but it failed causing them to retreat.”_ Dezel suggested.

“Well … Even they didn’t start out slaying dragons.” Said Rose to Valerie. “They were at it for longer than me.”

“How long have you been the Shepherd?” Valerie asked.

“Around a month.” Said Rose.

“Wow! You covered a lot!” Exclaimed Valerie.

 _“Is that what you call it?”_ Said Edna. _“Cuz I’m more familiar with the term ‘dicking off.’”_

 _“Yes, because saving at least four seraphim from their hellionization, stopping a plague, releasing a bunch of prisoners, taking part in a war, meeting the Lord of the Calamity, snagging a gun, and getting two squires, one of which ended up leaving definitely amounts to dicking off.”_ Said Dezel.

“Oh not really.” Said Rose.

“Do you think I can become the Shepherd?” Valerie asked.

“Well … maybe one day.” Said Rose.

 _“No she can’t.”_ Said Zenrus. _“You need high resonance to be able to become a Shepherd, and unless you ship her to Elysia right now she can’t be a Shepherd.”_ Nonetheless Valerie gasped happily at Rose’s little lie.

 _“She’s just a child. She’ll probably forget about it by the time she turns into a teenager.”_ Said Edna.

“Did you hear that Auntie Alisha? I might be Shepherd one day!” The girl cheered running up to Alisha.

“Oh yes I heard.” Said Alisha.

“You think that’ll make me as cool as you?” The little girl asked.

“Hm … I don’t know” Said Alisha “Maybe not quite as cool” Valerie looked distraught for a moment “You’ll be even cooler.” Valerie squealed.

“Me too?” Rosa piped up.

“Yes you too.” Said Alisha. Rosa hugged Alisha’s leg. Just then Maltran walked up to them, like Shane still in her full uniform.

“Captain Maltran.” Acknowledged Shane. Maltran nodded.

“Hey, what’s up?” Rose asked.

“We’ll talk in the Knight’s tower, let’s get these two home.” Said Maltran.

“Aaaw!” Valerie wined.

“She’s right, any longer and you two will catch a cold.” Said Alisha.

“Five more minutes Auntie?” Begged Valerie.

“No, I’m sure your mother is worried by now and she would be mad if you got sick.” Said Alisha.

“… Okay …” muttered Valerie.

“You know where the Knight’s tower is right?” Shane asked Rose as Maltran and Alisha left.

“Yeah we passed by it on the way here.” Said Rose. Shane then started leaving in a different direction in what Rose assumes to be either actually doing her job or seeing her wife. Rose and Sorey entered the Knight’s tower into what they assume to be a common room to see many knights either eating, drinking, or just hanging out with one particular pair making out in a corner. The knights stopped to look at Rose and Sorey when they entered. Many went back to their business, while some gave a nod in respect to Rose before going back to their business, while there was a third group that just stared at the two either dumbfounded or suspicious. Rose tried to speak up but Sorey eyed her signaling that they probably should just keep their mouths shut. They started wandering around the common room until they came across a portrait of the man that they’ve, minus Sorey and Zenrus, seen in the Iris gems. Rose looked at the inscription underneath as it read: “First Captain of the Platinum Knights, Georg Heldalf.”

“Shit!” Rose muttered under her breath.

“What?” Sorey whispered.

“This guy’s last name is Heldalf as in the Lord of Calamity Heldalf.” Rose whispered back.

“Oh no.” Sorey whispered.

“Hey look at the dates.” Rose whispered.

“Yeah looks like he served up until around twenty years ago.” Sorey whispered back.

“Well it figures that he would show up in the Earthen Historia.” Said Edna, “He’s a figure of the past, especially within the last thirty years when you know, the S.H.I.T.S. were prevalent. Where many of our Iris gems seem to fit in this whole thing.” They then looked at a different wall with a familiar looking woman and man in upper class wedding attire with the woman in a white dress while the man in a suit.

“Wait … this is …” Said Sorey under his breath.

“Hey.” Rose whispered to a nearby soldier. “Who’s this?”

“That’s a portrait of one of Heldalf’s daughters with her husband on their wedding day.” Said the knight. “I think we bought that around the time he disappeared.”

“Huh. I wonder how that happened.” Said Edna with a lot of sarcasm. Sorey’s face went from a quizzical look to abject horror.

“Any reason why?” Rose asked. “…Why y’all have the painting here.”

“I think it was to be a nice sentiment to the late General.” Said the knight, “That or Maltran wanted to put it up to show off to her girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” Rose questioned.

“Muse.” Sorey reminded.

“Okay yeah but I’m not sure I would call it that.” Said Rose. “I mean from our perspective it’s a lot more fucked up than your typical romantic relationship.” Shortly after Maltran and Alisha ran in from the rain. She and Maltran made eye contact and Maltran nodded to the stairs then started walking that way. Rose and Sorey followed the two, the four walked up the stairs into a corridor with some sort of color over various doors. They walk into a door with a white symbol above it.

“So did you get anywhere?” Rose asked. “Are we able to get in the church?”

“Lillian was reluctant but she did manage to give us the permissions.” Said Maltran. “However I’m afraid we will be under scrutiny.”

“Because of the conflict that Gilmore warned us about?” Said Sorey.

“Well that and the fight we … got arrested for.” Said Alisha.

“They heard about that?” Said Rose.

“Yes.” Said Alisha bluntly.

“Well … there goes any chance of not making a terrible impression.” Said Edna.

“This shouldn’t be much of a problem, we got nothing to hide and if we don’t make a big scene we should be fine.” Said Sorey.

“And hey, I’m the Shepherd they shouldn’t stay too mad at me for long. Let’s go.” Said Rose.

“Thank you.” Said Maltran.

“Hey it’s no problem, besides if anything bad happens I can sick my resident history nerds on them to question them to death.” Said Rose.

“I’m not that bad.” Sorey grumbled.

“Hey!” Mikleo snapped. Alisha giggled at Sorey’s reaction.

“By the way I should mention that it is for tomorrow.” Said Maltran. There was a collective groan among the party minus Zenrus.

 _“Patience.”_ Said Zenrus.

“However I do believe you all have lodgings so it’s not like you’ll sleep out in the rain.” Said Maltran.

When it was nearing dusk, or at the very least some time when it was getting darker, they went back to Shane and Emily’s inn. Inside Andy’s band was setting up to perform for that night and they sat down at a table with six chairs. The seraphim came out and also sat down. Emily came over with the inn’s dinner menu.

“Again? You two are seriously gonna sit alone at a table for six again?” She asked.

“Hey, we have seraphim here.” Said Rose. “You saw the levitating forks this morning didn’t you?”

“No. I was busy getting looking for someone to repair that damn window.” Said Emily.

“… That’s fair.” Rose looked over the menu. “By the way, what’s this?”

“Oh it’s a dish made where I’m from.” She said. “It’s not a staple but it’s what I know I can make with ingredients common to Glenwood so I don’t have to smuggle imports in from Flamestone.”

“I’ll have that.” Said Rose.

“I just want to see if they have a 100 point Drago stew.” Said Edna.

“I’ll have what you’re having Rose.” Said Dezel.

“Actually can you make that two and a Drago stew?” Rose asked. Emily looked at her with a rather disturbed look. “Don’t worry we can manage.”

“Hey can you tell me about your home?” Sorey asked.

After ordering and eating with Rose getting scolded for letting out a huge burp, during that time Andy and their band performed about four songs, Shane came back and took Emily’s place in running the inn so she went to Sorey and talked to him about where she came from and the history of her hometown.

“Really? That happened over a thousand years ago?” Sorey exclaimed.

“Yep. Because of that my people were over joyed when Glenwood closed its boarders so the ‘Age of Exploitation’ was over.” Said Emily with a hardy laugh.

“So how did they feel when Northfell became its own kingdom and from what everyone hears starts doing stuff?” Sorey asked just as Andy started singing a song about the absolutely stupidest ways to die in the background.

“Well the story goes that around 200 years ago some Flamestone ships came in and we were dreading that it was going to be like before.” Said Emily. “However we haven’t gotten colonized  simply because Northfell just isn’t interested in that and more interested in trading goods and advancing technology. Which by the way is actually pretty advanced.”

“You’ve been there before?” Sorey asked.

“Of course! I lived there for a couple of years before migrating to Glennwood.” Said Emily.

“I see.” Said Sorey, then he started at something for a brief moment. “I’m sorry can you excuse me for a moment I need to use the bathroom.” He got up and left.

“Bathroom my ass.” Said Dezel as soon as Sorey was gone. “Right now he’s in a secluded area of the inn forgetting to close the door climbing out of a window.”

“Okay that is scary.” Said Rose.

“What?” Said Emily.

“Sorry, not you.” Said Rose.

“Do you think he got a job?” Mikleo asked.

“Regardless we need to check in on him to make sure he doesn’t do anything reckless.” Said Zenrus.

“Oh it’s so stuffy in here! I need to get some air.” Said Rose getting up then leaving the inn. She then went into a sprint looking for Sorey until she found him talking to a Scattered Bones member who gave him something before leaving.

“Rose … Gramps … guys … what are you all doing here?” Sorey asked.

“We were suspecting that you were going to assassinate someone.” Said Rose.

“No, not yet.” Said Sorey. “I am gathering information on a few things that we got. One of them is an order to kill the late Price Leon’s right hand man, Utugash, from an unknown source. And another one from the father of someone who died in the war with the request: ‘Kill the one who started the war.’”

“So you’re going to investigate your targets then inform the rest of the Scattered Bones on what you have?” Mikleo asked.

“Either that or take matters into my own hands.” Said Sorey.

“Don’t.” Said Zenrus. “Your job within the Scattered Bones is to be an informant and scout. You shouldn’t over extend beyond your job unless you want something like five years ago to happen again.” Sorey clenched his teeth and looked away from the group.

“So about the jobs.” Said Dezel quickly picking up a drastic change in mood.

“Well I couldn’t really find anything on the Utugash job but the other one, I was seeing someone on that and what they found was that the request for war was given to the Emperor about a year ago under the name “Pope Masedra.”” Said Sorey.

“Wait. Are you saying that the Pope started the war?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know. I’m just getting the information.” Said Sorey.

“But wait didn’t the Pope disappear around a year ago?” Mikleo asked.

“Yes, and the timelines seem to line up a little too perfectly. But again, this information is inconclusive and I need to investigate further.” Said Sorey.

“So you’re not gonna go stabby stabby unless you have a better grasp on the situation. And from the sounds of it you’re not even allowed to go stabby stabby from, for one, something from five years ago, and two, you’re merely an informant.” Said Rose.

“Something like that.” Said Sorey. “However if it comes down to it I would have to kill the Pope or anyone that end up doing more harm than help.”

“You know there’s something in your voice that tells me you don’t fully believe that.” Dezel points out.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather give people the benefit of the doubt. But a job’s a job.” Said Sorey.

“You know Sorey I think I understand more what you’re in for.” Said Rose. “Though I still don’t get why you don’t have malevolence.”

“Huh?” Said Sorey.

“Actually, she does have a point.” Said Mikleo. “Muse has sheer determination and love keeping her from producing malevolence, the rest of the Scattered Bones have strong convictions. You on the other hand tend to waver and you don’t seem to really believe in the cause. Yet you’re here with no sign of malevolence.”

“He was always like that.” Said Zenrus. “He wasn’t able to get corrupted as a baby and growing up malevolence just seems to have a hard time forming in him.

“Huh.” Said Rose.

“Well in any case I’m going back to the inn to get some sleep.” Said Sorey walking back.

The next day they headed to the Shrine Church while discussing whether or not it’s valid to think that the Pope would start a war. However the conclusion they came up with was that it’s possible due to the fact that he’s more or less the leader of Rolance. The group just walked in with no one to bother them into the church area where almost all the pews were completely empty a priest was talking with a group of children.

“Small crowd today huh.” Said Rose.

“Well not really.” Said Sorey. “I think there’s actually a class in session.”

“Really? A church can do that?” Said Rose.

“Uh … yeah. Outside of home schooling it’s the most common way to get an education.” Said Sorey. They walked up to the class.

“Now let’s review.” Said the priest. “Who are the five great seraphim and what do they do?”

“Oh oh!” Cried one child. “Musiphe, Amenoch, Eumacia, Hyanoa, and Maotelus!”

“They … They govern the world and make sure that everything is in balance to protect us from abnormalities.” Said another child.

“That’s correct.” Said the priest. “Now can you tell me which seraph is worshipped here?”

“Maotelus!” Said a child.

“That’s right. Class dismissed.” Said the priest. The children got up and exited through the main entrence of the Shrine Church. The priest turned to them. “My apologies for making you wait Shepherd.” He then said.

“It’s fine.” Said Rose.

“Regardless welcome to the Shrine Church please folloe me.” Said the priest as he led them to the back of the church.

“Oh wow …” Said Sorey under his breath looking at the architecture. “This is more magnificent than I imagined.”

“First time here?” Said Rose.

“Well yeah.” Said Sorey. “Most trips to Pendrago are strictly business and those don’t leave time to see it.”

 _“Yeah it is really impressive.”_ Said Mikleo. _“The architecture here looks like it dates to the height of the Era of Asgard.”_

 _“Glad you’re impressed but don’t go nerding out now.”_ Said Edna. They walked up to a large stone tablet.

“This tablet tells of the Shepherd’s trial and the spiritual powers they gain from it.” Said the priest.

“Oh! That’s it!” Exclaimed Sorey.

“What?” Asked Rose.

“The map in the ruins.” Said Sorey. “We were right to suspect that they were sacred places but this gives us a solid definition on what those symbols are!”

“So … are you saying that the locations on the map are supposed to be places where Rose is supposed to go to so she could be rewarded with some vague spirit thing?” Dezel asked.

“Yeah though it might not be vague but it could help her against the Lord of Calamity.” Said Sorey.

“But the tablet is written in complete nonsense meaning that it is supposed to be a code.” Said Mikleo.

“Yeah that will take some time to decipher.” Said Sorey.

“Hey what does the big rock thing say?” Rose asked.

“I’m afraid I don’t know.” Said the priest. “All I know is that there is a cypher involved and it’s a secret passed down from pope to pope.”

“Do you think that Maotelus would know what it says? Since he’s the seraph worshipped here and all.” Rose asked.

“I’m afraid I don’t know that.”

“Well that would be possible if he were here.” Said Zenrus.

“Hm?” Said Rose.

“Do you feel something off?” Zenrus asked.

“Now that you mention it …” Said Dezel. “There’s no sense of blessing here. With everywhere else we were able to feel one even if the seraph wasn’t in the sanctuary.”

“So with no Maotelus and no one here able to read the tablet we need the pope.” Said Mikleo. Then a surge of malevolence came through the room and seraphim faded and the priest in front of them froze as if he had turned to stone.

“What? A domain?” Exclaimed Sorey.

“Let’s get out of here!” Cried Rose. Sorey started heading towards the door while Rose went towards a window and took one of her sheathed knives. Sorey stopped and turned.

“Rose! What are you-?!” Sorey shouted but she threw her knife at a stained glass window smashing it. “Rose!”

“Yell at me later come on!” Rose shouted climbing up the wall and out the window.

“Aaaagh!” Sorey screamed before going after Rose. They wind up outside of the church then ran around the outside with the domain still hanging over them. “Well Rose what do we do now?”

“I don’t know!” Rose shouted. “Um … Let’s go to the knight’s tower!” The two then ran over there and burst in having all the other knights turn their heads. “…Hi.”

“Rose? What are you doing here?” Alisha asked, back in her usual soldier attire.

“Oh you know we were at the Shrine Church, were introduced to a really important tablet then things started going south very fast. So we booked it out of there.” Said Rose.

“Did you get any information about the Pope or what the Cardinal’s doing?” She asked.

“We ran as soon as things went to shit.” Said Rose. “What do you think?”

“All right all right.” Said Alisha. “I’ll tell this to Maltran … as soon as she comes down.”

“Where is she anyway?” Rose asked.

“She’s in her quarters with her girlfriend.” Said Alisha in a pretty upbeat tone.

“Oh …” Said Sorey.

 _“So she’s completely unaware of the nature of their relationship.”_ They heard Edna say. The two stiffened and looked around.

“What is it?” Alisha asked.

“It’s just … never mind.” Said Sorey. “When do you think they’ll be done?”

“I’m not sure.” Said Alisha.

 _“Wait … do you think they heard us just now?”_ Rose and Sorey heard Dezel asked.

 _“Uh … maybe?”_ They heard Edna say.

“Are you two okay? You two seem a bit jumpy.” Said Alisha.

“Thought there was …” Said Sorey. “Never mind.”

 _“They heard us they totally heard us!”_ Dezel shouted. _“Keep doing the thing Mikleo.”_

 _“How about you come in and switch with me?”_ Mikleo snapped. _“I’m not sure how long I can keep doing this.”_

 _“You’ve done enough Mikleo.”_ Said Zenrus.

“Um … all right …” Said Alisha. “Are you sure you’re-?” Just as she was trying to ask there was a flash of light that caught everyone’s attention. However to Rose and Sorey the seraphim appeared Sorey smiled and gasped happily then quickly went back to a neutral face. “What was that?” Alisha asked.

“Oh uh …” Sorey started.

“I think the gun’s busted.” Lied Rose.

“Y-yeah must be.” Said Sorey playing along. “We totally weren’t even touching it and it went off and … stuff … yeah … that was weird.”

“Think you can fix it?” Rose asked.

“Well I don’t know how to help you with that.” Said Alisha. “We only know how to shoot them. That woman didn’t give us any hints on how to fix them.”

“Well that’s a bummer.” Rose whispered.

“Thanks for covering up.” Said Zenrus.

“Hey Mikleo are you all right?” Dezel asked hearing some heavy breathing from the water seraph as everyone noticed Mikleo looking a bit pale.

“Fine. Just need some rest.” Said Mikleo. Just then Muse and Maltran walked in.

“What’s going on here?” Maltran asked. Rose then explained everything she just told Alisha.

“Oh that just reminds me.” Said Muse. “Sorey can you check out Gododdin for me?”

“Gododdin? Why?” Sorey asked.

“Well back in Lastonbell, Gilmore and I were talking and he’s been thinking of trying to expand into the area and I need your help to check out what competition he has there.” She explained. Everyone but Sorey and Zenrus looked at her confused, with Rose trying to keep her confusion from showing and just quirked an eyebrow.

“That’s code for: ‘I found a suspicious trail of money going there can you take a look?’” Said Zenrus. With all the other seraphim giving an understanding “oh.”

“Wait does Gilmore know about the Light Sparks actually being the Scattered Bones?” Mikleo asked.

“No he doesn’t.” Said Zenrus. “He just so happens to make for an easy code word relating to ‘odd money trail.’”

“You know when you put it like that I can’t help but feel sorry for him.” Said Mikleo.

“You’re not alone on this.” Said Zenrus.

“Yes mam. I’ll take a look.” Sorey replied to Muse.

“Oh thank you Sorey I knew I could count on you.” Said Muse. “And make sure my daughter stays safe okay?”

“… Okay …” Said Sorey.

“Great, after this I’ll be heading back to Lastonbell so tell me what you’ve found there.” Said Muse. She then turned to Maltran. “And I hope to see you in time.” She gave her a quick peck then left the Knight’s tower.

“Can you also report what you find to me?” Maltran asked. “In case there’s something the military should be involved in.

“I don’t see why not.” Said Rose. “As soon as we get back to Pendrago we’ll tell you what we’ve found.”

“Very well.” Said Maltran. “Then I wish you luck as you journey through Biroclef Ridge, as lately there have been dangerous rockslides in the area.”

“All right. Thanks.” Said Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I mean to post this chapter earlier but I came down with a bad cold. It might be a while before I update this again as I'll be trying to work on the more Critical Role centric prequel to this for NaNoWriMo. But we'll see.
> 
> As for the stuff with Heldalf ... I perceived him as older than he probably actually is and well I ended up writing and publishing chapter 9 around July or August of last year a bit before the chapter came out where we all found out about a certain thing. By then it was a bit late to change my decision as I had an original plan that was started out in chapter 9 and I intend to go through with this original plan.


	37. To Gododdin

Chapter 37: To Gododdin

The next morning they were about to leave Pendrago when they saw a hellion above the knights at the front gate.

“Hmph looks like the church might be looking for us.” Said Dezel.

“Well I did break a window to get the fuck out yesterday.” Said Rose.

“We need to find a way around.” Said Dezel.

“Or just use the Spectral Cloak and just walk on through.” Said Rose.

“The Spectral Cloak?” Dezel asked.

“Oh yeah you weren’t there.” Said Rose. “Long story short it makes us effectively invisible as long as we don’t make a lot of noise. And since there’s no one here that wears heavy plate armor we should be okay.”

“Wait … why did you mention plate armor?” Sorey asked.

“Long story short we tried to use this with Sergei and it failed miserable because his armor made a lot of noise.” Rose explained. Sorey snickered for a bit. “Can we go now?”

“All right all right, sorry.” Said Sorey. Dezel went back into Rose and the two humans went closer to the gate. When the lizard started in turn their direction Rose evoked Mikleo’s powers and created a bubble around them. The two shuffled through the gate then went behind a tree just as the spectral cloak wore off. They looked to the field to see many more hellions patrolling the pasture.

“Think they’re affiliated with the church?” Rose asked.

 _“I would hope not.”_ Said Mikleo. _“But we might need to keep using the spectral cloak.”_

“It doesn’t look like we’d be able to get very far.” Said Sorey. “Do you think that at least for tonight we should head to Greyskull and wait until it mostly blows over?”

 _“I’m okay with that.”_ Said Dezel probably shrugging if he could.

 _“Well I guess we can do it for just tonight.”_ Said Mikleo rather begrudgingly. So they started sneaking towards Greyskull using the Spectral Cloak to get past hellions until they approached the keep. Just as Rose was about to open the door Sorey grabbed her wrist.

“Rose there are a shit ton of hellions looking around the front, they’ll notice.” Said Sorey.

“Well where do we go?” Rose asked.

“There’s a collapsed portion that’s being used as Keyleth’s garden, let’s get in through there.” Said Sorey. So they went around back where the collapsed portion of building with a tree growing out of it a full story up was. The two then started scaling the wall.

 _“You know you two could armatize with me to get over the ledge.”_ Dezel pointed out.

“That’s fair … Lukeim Yurlin.” Said Rose then armatizing with him and hovered to the portion under the tree then dearmatized so Sorey could do the same. When they got there it was pretty dry all with the mostly leaved tree and there stood Keyleth.

“Hello Shepherd breaking in now?” She asked.

“We’re so sorry Keyleth.” Sorey apologized “But we need a place to hide for a bit and we figured that this is our best bet.”

“And why do you need to hide?” Keyleth asked.

“Well we” Rose started.

“We?” Sorey questioned slightly miffed.

“I destroyed a window in the Shrine Church because we felt a strong domain that temporarily paralyzed our resonance.” Said Rose. “So now there are a shit ton of hellions that are associated with the church that might want me dead.” Keyleth rolled her eyes then sighed.

“Yep, Shepherding as usual.” She said to herself. “Well come on.” They went inside where Vax was just walking around.

“Hey, didn’t expect to see you all so soon.” Said Vax. “What brings you back here?”

“Damage of church property and we’re hiding from the a bunch of hellions outside.” Said Sorey.

“Okay. What would lead you to damage church property?” Vax asked.

“A really strong domain suddenly appeared blocking our resonances so Rose broke a window to get out.” Said Sorey.

“Oh, all right.” Said Vax.

“By the way are either of you familiar with the trials of the Shepherd?” Rose asked.

“Well we’ve heard of them but we didn’t do them.” Said Keyleth with a shrug.

“How the hell did you guys defeat the Lords of Calamity?” Edna muttered under her breath.

“Well one of them was killed by a different Shepherd and the second one … I like to think that it’s because the void armatus can be really clutch with a badass mystic arte. Plus we managed to get some things from helping out Keykey’s family.” Said Vax. He looked to the new Shepherd’s group who were really nonchalant about it. “You know I was expecting more of a reaction to the fact that there is a void armatus.”

“Well when you find out there’s such a thing as a lightning armatus you figure that any armatus is possible.” Said Rose with a shrug.

“Even an armatus that requires you to fuse with two or more seraphim?” Vax asked.

“Okay now that’s not an armatus, that’s becoming a god.” Said Rose.

“Not to mention it’s just sounds fucking ridiculous.” Said Sorey. Rose and the party seraphim stared at him. “What?”

“I would say to watch your language Sorey but …” Zenrus began.

“You never fucking swear!” Rose finished. “Plus the old man hasn’t scolded any of us for our honestly fucking filthy mouths.”

“Though I would be careful when you call me “old man.”” Said Zenrus.

“Anyway …” Said Dezel, “You saying “fucking ridiculous” somehow adds more weight.”

“You’re all being really jumpy about an extra “fuck” to something that just sounds stupid.” Sighed Keyleth rolling her eyes.

“Because it never happens with him!” Rose exclaimed. Keyleth and Vax rolled their eyes and sighed.

That night after everyone went to sleep Sorey woke from another nightmare with the inability to get back to sleep again. He got out of the old bed and left the room and started wandering the dark halls. He saw a faint light come from downstairs. He went there to see Mikleo and Keyleth talking in the kitchen.

“I can’t believe you would go for someone so cold.” He heard Mikleo say.

“Now now, there are times where Vax acts like the biggest asshole but he really means well.” Said Keyleth.

“How is telling me to give up on Bahamut meaning well?” Mikleo asked.

“Well … he always has a soft spot for broken seraphim.” Said Keyleth.

“What does that have to do with anything? I’m not…” Said Mikleo.

“You know we talked about it that night.” Said Keyleth. “We get this feeling that you tend to hide things a lot like if you’ve been hurt in the past you wouldn’t tell anyone about it.” Mikleo’s eyes widened and he scooched his chair back. “We just fear that it’ll be self destructive and from what Rose told us may be the reason you turned into a hellion. So we think you should leave Bahamut.”

“That’s … that’s none of your concern.” Said Mikleo.

“Is it really none of my concern or are you trying to divert the conversation?” Keyleth asked.

“Both.” Said Mikleo “Can you please not ask about this?”

“Sorry.” Said Keyleth. “I’m just concerned for you after last time.”

“I can do without your concern.” Said Mikleo. It was quiet for a while before Sorey tapped on a nearby wall. They turned to see him standing in the doorway.

“Hi … do you mind?” He asked nervously.

“No, come on in.” Said Keyleth. Sorey walked in and sat down.

“Did you have another nightmare?” Mikleo asked. Sorey silently nodded. Mikleo hesitantly reached for his hand before asking “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.” Said Sorey. Mikleo held his hand.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Mikleo asked. Sorey shook his head. Keyleth wanted to ask something but hesitated.

“Y-you know … I could make you a charm that’s said to keep nightmares away.” She said changing her mind. “I don’t know if it would actually work but my parents used it to keep me from getting nightmares when I was little.”

“I don’t think that would help … but thank you though.” Said Sorey.

“Let’s get back to bed.” Said Mikleo. They went back upstairs.

“Mikleo …” Said Sorey, the water seraph turned to him. “Can you stay with me … just for tonight?”

“Well … my stuff’s in another room …” Said Mikleo. “But … all right.” The two went into Sorey’s room and Mikleo watched Sorey fall asleep and he just stared at the sleeping boy occasionally brushing a hair out of his face before drifting to sleep himself.

The next morning the seraphim were peeking out of the window to make sure if any hellions were still around.

“You guys seeing anything?” Rose asked.

“No, well there are some hellions but none of them are with the church.” Said Mikleo.

“Don’t go out just yet.” Said Vax. “Let me get quickly search the pasture.”

“And why would we let you do that?” Mikleo asked crossing his arms.

“Because I am a terrible decision maker and danger magnet that can get the fuck away really quickly.” Said Vax. “Just give me a few hours.”

“Why would we do that when Mikleo just said that it’s clear?” Rose asked.

“I’m just looking out for you and making sure that you guys don’t make dumber mistakes than us.” Said Vax. “I prefer if you guys do just as dumb stuff if not actually smart stuff.”

“I think we can manage.” Said Rose.

“All right, all right. Suit yourselves.” Said Vax backing away with his hands up.

“Thank you.” Said Rose.

“Thanks for letting us stay again!” Said Sorey giving Vax and Keyleth a brief wave.

“Later.” Said Edna to the seraph couple before leaving the keep.

Once again the party spent a week walking through the Meadow of Triumph before getting to Biroclef Ridge. And just like the walk to Pendrago it was relatively uneventful. When they got to the ridge they decided to camp out for the night as the sun was setting. And it was around then that Sorey got into a coughing fit.

“Shit! Now?” He muttered under his breath.

“Sorey,” Said Rose, Sorey looked up, “I know we didn’t discuss this in Pendrago but did you get any further information on the money trail you were sent to investigate?”

“Well I’m pretty sure we recently picked up on this trail due to someone noticing a pattern with the church spending and a chunk of it was going to Gododdin.” Said Sorey.

“Do you know what’s coming from Gododdin?” She asked.

“No.” Said Sorey.

“Oh no …” Groaned Rose.

“What?” Said Sorey.

“I have a bad feeling about this …” Said Rose.

“You’re thinking it has something to do with drugs don’t you?” Dezel asked.

“Yeah…” Rose sighed.

“Wait you think there’s something like the powder fiasco we had to deal with in Hyland?” Mikleo asked.

“I mean it’s possible.” Said Rose with a shrug.

“If there is a drug scheme going on in Gododdin why would the church be giving money for it?” Mikleo asked.

“Addiction rehabilitation, withdrawal recovery, compensation for prisoners on drug allegations, funeral costs from overdose …” Sorey listed with a shrug.

“Or the church is the one behind the whole drug problem.” Said Enda.

“Okay considering that some of the actions of the cardinal are pretty sketchy lately that’s a bit extreme don’t you think?” Rose asked.

“Maybe.” Shrugged Edna.

“Or they are starting this drug problem in Gododdin because they’re actually getting their revenue from elixir through this.” Said Dezel.

“What?” Said Rose.

“You know I think he might be going somewhere with this.” Said Sorey. “If the church is making money off of a drug problem in Gododdin it would lead to a scheme where the church is giving money to Gododdin so they can gather materials, equipment, and labor for making the drug, Gododdin distributes the drug, consumers get addicted in which the knights and church would interfere to get them off the drug, then the consumers suffer withdrawal symptoms, the church cures it with elixir, so demand of elixir would go up but since the supply of elixir is limited the prices for elixir would also go up thus them making a profit off of the stuff. It’s insane for the church to do this but it is plausible due to rumors of church corruption and elixir becoming the rage these days.”

“Yes it is plausible but you are forgetting one thing.” Said Zenrus. “Elixir is popular among the upper class, lower classes don’t have access to the money needed to buy elixir. So this theory falls apart because you need an upper class addicted to drugs.”

“Actually that might be pretty plausible in Rolance.” Said Mikleo.

“How so?” Zenrus asked.

“Well we haven’t heard of any drug problem among the majority of the populace we haven’t witnessed any arrests for a drug problem. In fact none of the regular citizens seem to be getting hit with the powder problem like Hyland did.” Mikleo explained “However they’re not the ones buying elixirs, the nobility are. What if it’s because they’re dealing with a drug problem and they know that the only way to fix it is through the elixir. And they can get around the inflating prices because they have the money to do so.”

“Wait … elixir is a onetime cure all.” Said Edna.

“This is a super addictive drug with devastating side effects.” Said Mikleo with a shrug.

“Okay so are we good on this church drug conspiracy?” Rose asked.

“Yeah. I think so.” Said Sorey.

“Great.” Rose sighed “More drugs. Ah let’s just get to sleep and sort out this drug thing tomorrow.” However nobody got a good night’s sleep due to Sorey’s coughing, with Zenrus going up to heal him every hour or so. They next morning they were heading up Gododdin exhausted, with Sorey and Zenrus being especially tired that Rose pointed out that they look like shit as they climbed up the mountain pass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I know I said that I might not be able to update due to writing the prequel in November but I managed to finish up this chapter and edit it so I could put it up.
> 
> And yeah this will not be the last time Vax and Keyleth show up.


	38. "Elixir"

Chapter 38: “Elixir”

By the time they got to Gododdin Sorey was kind of delirious from a fever he managed to develop.

“How are you doing?” Zenrus asked.

“I’m … I’m still walking …” He sighed. “… I wanna die …” He then slumped on Rose and she partially dragged him along. The party walked through Gododdin’s gates many of the children stopped what they were doing to stare at the outsiders only for them to get scolded for doing so.

“Excuse me is there an inn nearby?” Rose asked a nearby person, they told her that it was just by the school house. They went to the inn and let Sorey sleep in the room they checked out with Zenrus watching over him.

“Rose …” Said Sorey getting her attention. “Are you gonna take a look around the village?”

“Yeah.” Said Rose. “Want us to get you anything?”

“Just … if you see anything suspicious tell me.” Said Sorey. “I may be sick but I still have a job to do.” He then went into a coughing fit.

“All right.” Said Rose before going outside.

“One last thing Rose.” Said Zenrus. She turned suppressing her annoyance. “Keep quiet about being the shepherd and if our drug theory is correct, please refrain from doing anything … stupid.”

“Hey! What the hell do you take me for?” Rose exclaimed. “I can manage myself!”

“I’m sure you’ll be … fine … but I’d like it if we’d draw as little attention to us as possible.” Said Sorey.

“All right, all right I get it! Don’t make a scene! I’ll tell you if I find anything!” Rose exclaimed before leaving the room in a huff. The remaining seraphim came out.

“Do you think we should split up?” Dezel asked.

“Yeah, you guys can get through various places without getting caught by humans.” Said Rose. “But if you find yourself in a bind come back immediately.”

“Will do.” Said Mikleo as he and Edna left the two.

“You know you could investigate on your own.” Said Rose.

“I’m fucking blind.” Said Dezel.

“You know you have the wind with you and don’t you have ridiculously good hearing?” Rose pointed out.

“I just think that we would get more done if we’re together.” Said Dezel.

“Is this another thing like the time you turned into a behir?” Rose asked.

“…No…” Said Dezel.

“Ah whatever come on.” Said Rose. They walked towards the rather impressive building in the center of the inn close to the inn which the residents call the school house.

“It’s a little plain compared to the rest of the town don’t you think?” She heard behind her, she turned to an elderly man in plain clothing and wearing glasses.

“Well … I don’t know about plain.” Said Rose “Sticks out a bit … especially since I come from a mountain town that didn’t have a school.”

“Well we have to do something for the future for our village why not build a school so the children here can get an education?” Said the man.

“I suppose.” Said Rose.

“Rose get his trust, he might know something.” Said Dezel.

“I’m Rose by the way.” Rose introduced herself. “I’m a researcher surveying the dietary habits of people out on the frontier.”

“I’m Slenge, the chief of this village.” The old man introduced himself. “Thankfully our village hasn’t experienced the ravages of drought and famine.”

“That’s good to hear. Hope we don’t get in your way as we continue to conduct our research.” Said Rose.

“We?” The chief questioned.

“I have a partner doing research with me.” Said Rose. “He caught a cold when we entered the village so he’s currently resting at the inn.”

“That’s unfortunate. Well I send my condolences to your partner. And good luck.” Said Slenge. And he walked away.

“Hear anything from nearby?” Rose asked quietly.

“There’s talk that the food supply might be at a surplus this year.” Said Dezel.

“So nothing unusual.” Rose remarked.

“Well there is talk that the Chief hasn’t been in good health recently.” Said Dezel “That seems to be raising some concern.”

“But other than that nothing out of the ordinary?” Said Rose.

“No … nothing.” Said Dezel. The two walked around town with Rose striking up conversation with the town’s folk trying to gather information about the town, including the chief’s health. However the villagers try to dodge the subject and Rose didn’t get any clear answers on how they manage to get their income.

“Nothing.” Rose huffed plopping onto a rock. “God there’s something odd about this village and we know it! This place seems too prosperous for a land that would normally be barren!”

“Not to mention there’s some malevolence hanging about without the blessing of a guardian seraph.” Said Dezel.

“You know, the more I think about it the more plausible our drug scheme theory seems to be.” Said Rose. “Though it’s not like we could find proof of that unless they decide it’s okay for us to break into houses or something like that.”

“Though aside from that, it’s a nice place.” Said Dezel.

“True … it’s just … god it’s just too weird how this village seems so … upbeat when by all accounts there should be far more malevolence and despair.” Said Rose. “If it weren’t for that it would be a nice place to settle down.”

“Take in a young seraph and start a family.” Said Dezel.

“Yeah hope you could find a seraph that would want to do that with you.” Said Rose. She didn’t notice him looking at her crushed. “For me personally there’s so much to do and see that there’s no way for me to bring myself to settle down.”

“Then …” Dezel started when Mikleo ran up followed by Edna sauntering behind.

“What’s up you two?” Rose asked.

“Well for one it’s the chief.” Said Edna. “I think he may be the missing pope.”

“What?” Said Rose.

“What makes you say that?” Dezel asked.

“The school is very recent like within the last six months recent and people are comparing and contrasting a year ago to now all thanks to their chief.” Said Edna. “Then there are his glasses.”

“Okay … what about them?” Rose asked.

“Lenses are not particularly common place outside of Northfell.” Said Edna. “Even after 200 years they are still very expensive only reserved for nobility or people involved with religious orders.”

“Huh …” Said Rose, “What about you Mikleo?”

“I overheard some conversation that the villagers are worried that we came for the chief, which very much lines up with Edna’s claim that he’s the missing pope.” Said Mikleo. “And that there’s a ruin in the back of the village.”

“Why tell us instead of Sorey?” Said Rose.

“That’s not the point, the point is I heard the chief say that he doesn’t want people, specifically us, go into that ruin and he had some malevolence emitting out of him.” Said Mikleo. “I think we were right to guess that drugs were involved and they’re using the ruin as a storage facility for that drug.”

“And thus we have “Gilmore wanting to expand his shop to the area” …” Said Rose. “We need to tell Sorey and Zenrus now.” They went back to their room to explain to Zenrus while Sorey slept.

“Hm … that is concerning.” Said Zenrus. “What are you going to do next?”

“Probably find a back entrance and then wait until everyone is asleep before going in through said back entrance and take a look around then get the hell out before dawn.” Said Rose with a shrug.

“Sound good enough. Have Sorey join you if wakes up doing better.” Said Zenrus.

“All right…” Said Rose with a sigh. Rose and the seraphim went back outside trying to use Dezel’s wind reading as a method for finding a different way to the ruin.

“I need to get closer …” He said “but with the malevolence around I’m afraid any hellions in the area will notice me.”

“Hm … we might just need to wander around town for a bit.” Rose muttered to herself.

“Yeah looks like it.” Said Edna. The seraphim went back into Rose’s body while Rose wandered around the village faking being a researcher when she was in the village chief’s view. Then she got to the back of the village where she found an area covered by collapsed rock.

“Hey Dezel.” She said quietly. “Can you feel small air holes?” Dezel came out and paced the area a bit before standing at a place where he presumably feels has more air pockets. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the wind for a little while. He then went back into Rose. “Well?”

_“There is definitely a chamber behind there.”_ Said Dezel. _“I don’t know if it’ll lead to a ruin but it is a place to look into.”_

“We can break it down but doing it now would stir too much attention.” Said Rose. “We’re gonna have to wait until tonight. By then hopefully Sorey would be well enough to help us.”

_“And what if that doesn’t happen?”_ Edna asked.

“Then we keep up the researcher front and keep waiting until Sorey is over his cold.” Said Rose. So they waited until nightfall but Sorey wasn’t over his cold. So the operation had to be delayed for a day and the next night they went to the area sneaking through the village to make sure they didn’t wake anyone until they got to the collapsed area. Sorey pointed over to the area and Rose nodded. Rose, using Edna’s power punched the cavern open with Mikleo coming out and putting up the spectral cloak to hide them from any the villagers that went to take a look as he stayed behind as the rest of the party went inside the cavern before letting it down and following them in. Sorey pulled out a candle that he probably uses for late night reading out of his absurdly spacious jacket and lit it with a match. Sorey and Rose walked through the cavern and found a bunch of crates. The seraphim came out and started looking in some of the crates.

“You two are gonna want to see this.” Said Edna pulling out a distinct hexagonal bottle. Sorey took it from her and fumbled with it.

“This is elixir.” Said Sorey.

“Really? They’re the ones selling elixir for a potential drug problem?” Said Rose.

“Maybe … but I have a feeling that there’s something a bit more to it.” Said Sorey starting to open the elixir bottle. Rose snatched it from him.

“Whoa! You’re not actually thinking of drinking it are you?” Rose exclaimed.

“Well there’s no way I’ll let you drink it.” Said Sorey keeping it out of her reach as she tried to jump up and grab it with his hand in her face. Mikleo goes in to grab it but Dezel yoinked it from Sorey, screwed off the cap then chugged the bottle. Mikleo and Sorey looked on in abject horror while Edna seemed amused and Zenrus looked at him and gave a very long drawn out sigh while shaking his head.

“Dezel!” Rose exclaimed. Dezel took a deep breath and started fidgeting.

“I probably shouldn’t’ve done that.” He said. He then started laughing nervously. Rose took a look at his clouded over eyes and the darker parts of his eyes were dilated. “Oh dear fucking Maotelus I really shouldn’t’ve done that.”

“Um … How do you feel?” Mikleo asked.

“Hot, bothered, unusually energetic, and extremely fidgety.” Said Dezel. Mikleo picked up a different bottle and and tried to look at the contents inside. He then opened it and used a seraphic arte to float the blueish contents outside he swirled it in the air for a bit and tried to separate some of the components inside.

“What are you getting?” Sorey asked.

“Well…” Mikleo began putting the contents back in the bottle, “it looks like it’s made by energy drink byproducts and I think there might be an acid in there, lye, and other things that got ground up and likely boiled in so it could dissolve so I can’t really tell what else is in there.”

“Oh … oh no …” Said Sorey. “That would make this not only fake but extremely addictive.”

“One bottle and you’re hooked, even if what you’re saying about the ingredients is true, it would also make people think if would make them feel better when they start getting ill because of the elixir. So they’ll race back.” Said Enda. “Pretty devious.”

“But is it being sold officially under the church’s authority?” Mikleo asked. Sorey and Zenrus investigated the boxes.

“Well it looks like they have the official seal of the church.” Said Sorey. “However all the funds are going here.”

“You all were on the right track that this is a drug scheme.” Said Zenrus. “However there are a few details missing that prevent our little theory from becoming a fact. Like who would have the authority to create any authentic certificates, if any, and have something be branded with the church’s stamp of approval? And would the church really know what’s going on?”

“Holy shit it’s the missing pope!” Exclaimed Rose. “That’s the missing detail in all of this!”

“It explains the funds. And if the church is oblivious why they can unwittingly sell a super addictive drug.” Said Dezel annoyingly tapping his foot and scratching at his arms.

“Careful Dezel, do that enough and you’ll break through the skin!” Mikleo warned.

“You know it also would explain the malevolence coming from the chief.” Said Sorey. “Which would either lead to the village being conspirators with the pope or as, Edna theorizes, the chief IS the pope.”

“Hey! Hey you! What are you doing here?” They heard a voice shout. They turned to see a tiger man hellion aggressively approaching them.

“Um … this isn’t what it looks like?” Said Sorey.

“Um … you don’t think that’s the…” Rose started when Dezel rushed up to the hellion and decks it. “DEZEL WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!”

“I’m drugged and really want to punch something don’t stand in my way!” He snapped continuing to wail on the guy turning him into a bloody pulp in the process to which Mikleo and Edna restrain him by holding his arms behind his back while getting elbowed in the face in the process and having the earth trap his feet respectively. As the malevolence returned to the earth the hellion turned back into one of the villagers, that wasn’t the chief.

“You know it was a damn relief that you assaulted a villager cuz if that had been the Chief… there’s no way we’d be able to get any information.” Rose scolded. The villager woke up

“So … so you really had come for the chief.” Said the villager.

“No! We came here for the drugs!” Rose exclaimed. Sorey gave her a blank look then sighed. “That came out wrong didn’t it?”

“Yes. Yes it did.” Said Sorey rather bluntly. Just then the chief walked in.

“What is the meaning of all this?” He demanded.

“Are you Pope Masedra?” Sorey asked.

“Hmph, I see your “research” paid off.” Said the chief confirming the suspicion. “And I assume that you’ve come to take me back.”

“That wasn’t a thought until recently, honest.” Said Rose. “With the Cardinal’s activities and people that try to investigate her disappearing. I honestly thought you were dead and Gododdin was just involved in a drug scheme that’s as bad as the powder problem in Hyland.”

“You’re particularly a bright Shepherd aren’t you?” Slenge asked rather sarcastically. Rose pouted.

“Rose, ask him about his intentions and try to get some information about the Cardinal.” Said Zenrus.

“Ugh forget that why are you doing this? Aren’t there a lot of people that depend on you, like the emperor, the knights, Maltran and Alisha?” Rose asked.

“There are.” Slenge admitted. “But because of them I lost everything dear to me so I ran into the woods to kill myself.” Sorey’s eyes widened and he gave a small gasp.

“What do you mean?” Rose asked.

“All I wanted was to help my family so I became a priest.” Slenge started. “But ended up being Pope when the last one up and died with the empire making me slave away at the job. And before I realized it my family had left thinking I had abandoned them for my work, putting me in the deepest pits of despair.”

“Did try to orchestrate war with Hyland?” Sorey asked.

“I was beyond caring to be concerned with the war with Hyland so I ran to die. But then that’s when the people of this village found me. They helped me get back to my feet and asked nothing in return. So I wanted to give something back because they became … my family.” Said the Chief saying the last two words with heart filled earnesty.

“Hey, do you think we should bring him back?” Rose asked.

“Well he did abandon his job and started a drug trade that this town depends on… but then again we need him to decipher the tablet.” Said Mikleo still holding a restrained Dezel. “Ugh hold still!”

“At the very least I’m gonna need to talk to my boss about this.” Said Sorey.

“That’s fair, but what about the Pope?” Rose asked.

“On one had you have the knights and the Cardinal mucking things up for Rolance and the other you have a village that depends of the contributions of a drug trade that this man created.” Said Zenrus. “What are you going to do Shepherd?”

“As I see it you’re dealing with a selfish agenda either way.” Said Edna turning around and getting rid of Dezel’s restraints.

“You sure this is a good ide-” Mikleo began to ask before Dezel kicked him in the shin. “Ow!”

“We’re gonna lock him in our inn room and have him hopefully burn out.” Said Edna. “If he’s getting low in a locked room he won’t want to grab another bottle of Elixir.”

“Funny cuz I already want another bottle.” Said Dezel.

“Okay. Room. Now.” Said Edna jabbing Mikleo.

“Ow! Hey! Okay okay I’m going!” Mikleo snapped as the two walked Dezel out of the cave. The Chief the cringed and collapsed on the ground.

“Chief!” The man cried.

“Are you okay?!” Rose cried. The man looked to Rose and Sorey.

“Look I don’t want you to take the chief away but just for this moment help me get him to his house.” He said.

“Okay.” Said Rose. She helped the man carry the unconscious chief to his house to the front of his house. The man opened the door and had Sorey go inside to since he still had the reading candle burning. However in the low light he and Rose saw a glimpses of a table covered in beakers on one end with a series of other chemicals on the other which include some of the stuff that Mikleo mentioned as well as a glowing red crystal. However the inside of the house just smelled awful, like cat urine and rotten eggs were mixed together in an unholy concoction. The man pulled her along to get the chief to his bed by then Mikleo had ran in.

“Hey, you doing all right?” Sorey asked. Mikleo looked at him for a brief moment.

“I’m fine, I healed the injuries Dezel inflicted on me.” He replied.

“That’s good.” Said Sorey.

_“Now what of Dezel?”_ Zenrus asked.

“Edna’s keeping an eye on him.” Said Mikleo. He then took a look at the table particularly at the crystal. “Wait … this is vermillion ore.” Rose looked over to him with a questioning look. “I hear it’s only made with seraphic artes but it’s quite dangerous to process and tends to make any drug addictive.”

“Wait wasn’t that stuff used in Pseudosuude after the original plant went extinct?” Sorey asked.

_“It was.”_ Said Zenrus.

“You helped me get the chief back to his home, there’s nothing for you to do here, leave.” Said the man.

“Fine.” Said Rose. “C’mon.” They left the house and went back to the inn.

“So what do we do?” Sorey asked.

“We leave for Lastonbell and tell Muse.” Said Rose. The next day Sorey and Rose left the inn with villagers wary of them as they likely heard the news of the previous night. “Don’t worry we got what we came here for. We’re just gonna leave.”

“It’s all right everyone! There’s no need for concern.” The Slenge announces coming out of his house. The villagers rushed around him asking him about his wellbeing and if he should even be outside and he assured them that he is okay. “Don’t worry about that woman, she’s the real Shepherd.” He also told the villagers. He then went up to Rose.

“Shepherd, please understand that these villagers have nothing to do with the creation and distribution of fake elixir. It was my doing, so if you had to blame anyone, blame me.” Said Slenge.

“We just wanted to learn the truth, so we’ll be leaving.” Said Rose.

“Before you leave Shepherd, follow me to the cave.” Said the Chief. The two humans followed him into the cave that was storing the fake elixir with the seraphim in Rose’s head arguing amongst each other primarily keeping Dezel away from the crates. They walked to the back of the cavern to a door with a red glow emanating from a crack in it with the emblem of the flaming sword carved about it.

“What is this?” Rose asked. Zenrus looked up and smirked not that the other seraphim were paying any attention dragging a thoroughly drained Dezel away from the direction of the drug crates.

“The Shepherd is grated four powers: earth, water, fire, and wind. They are the blade that shall cleave the Lord of Calamity.” Slenge recited. “Scattered across this land are the shrines of trials. They too are of earth, water, fire, and wind. Tests they are of power and spirit. Power is brought forth in the spirit, and the spirit captures the power. With balance may malevolence be purified; with imbalance does the body smolder and burn. Test thyself Shepherd and brandish thy might! Rise to the challenge, and stake thy will on the outcome!”

“The inscription!” Sorey exclaimed.

“Wait … isn’t it missing void?” Rose asked.

“Void is more of a conglomeration of elements that can’t really be categorized by the other four and not common so it’s frequently not needed unless you are an Ashari seraph.” Said Zenrus.

“Okay … what does it all mean?” Rose asked.

“Well …” Sorey started.

“It means that we can obtain a power in four different places and you need to pass a trial in each one. I think.” Said Mikleo.

“What he said.” Said Sorey.

“So we need to find those places.” Said Rose.

“Yeah unless … wait …” Said Sorey. “Is this…?”

“Yes, this is one of them. This is Igraine the trial shrine of fire.” Said Slenge.

“Do you need a fire seraph to be able to go through this trial?” Rose asked.

“I assume so.” Said Zenrus with a shrug.

“…Shit…” Rose muttered under her breath.

“Is something wrong Shepherd?” Slenge asked.

“We forgot something.” Said Rose. “Is there a time limit to when I have to do these?”

“Well it would be preferable if you got them done before word of war sparks again, if that happens, otherwise there isn’t.” Said Slenge.

“Great, not is there any particular order you need to do them in?” Rose asked.

“Nope.” Said Slenge.

“Great. And uh … we’re so sorry but we do need to leave town to get something before we could even attempt this trial.” Said Rose. Slenge looked at her for a brief moment.

“Very well, I’ll make sure this door or cave doesn’t get blocked off and leave it available for you when you return.” Said Slenge.

“Oh thank you!” Rose sighed. “I’ll come back to this as soon as I can. With that stay well.” Said Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took a while due to Nanowrimo but I think it will take even longer to update because the next couple of chapters will contain major spoilers for the other long form Critical Role/Zestiria crossover. So this fic will be on a hiatus until I get close to being done with the other fic so I can avoid another Vax and Keyleth situation.


End file.
